Discoveries
by Asmith137
Summary: When Blowhole takes the girls hostage for revenge on the penguins, will their secrets finally be told? Will their pasts finally come into light? Will one of the penguins actually be a traitor? Read and find out.
1. Prolouge

Its been around six months since the girls came back to New York. Not much has changed since then. Julien was still having parties with his favorite penguin, Madison. Marlene is still coming in and out from thin air, much to Skipper and Amber's annoyance. And of course that monthly vet check ups, which always seemed to scar the vet each time. Madison's wound had also healed over, so it wasn't a problem anymore.

The penguins were happily doing the cute and cuddly routine. Amber and Sara were currently smiling and waving to the visitors.

"Big crowd today, huh?" Amber said to Sara. She didn't like it.

"Do they think we're expecting an egg or something?" Sara inquired, which made Amber laugh. Like that would ever happen!

"Fish?" Rico offered a fish to Madison. She happily accepted it and back flipped into the water, purposely splashing Rico to make him give into chasing. Rico smiled deviously and jumped in after her. The two penguins quickly swam past Skipper and Private.

Private surfaced from the water and smiled up at Sara while Skipper floated on by, relaxed for once.

"The water feels really good today," Private said happily to Sara. "You have to try it!"

Sara smiled at him and decided to comply. She then flipped into the water, splashing the young penguin. Private laughed happily and splashed Sara when she came back up, which she returned with her giggles. After a while they stopped and swam next to each other, calm and peaceful. "I wish all days were like this," Private sighed, content.

"Hey Kowalski," Flora spoke up from the edge of the concrete island. Kowalski swam to her and awaited her to finish. "What do you think about making a weather machine?"

Kowalski pondered this for a moment and smirked. "No more cold winter days. I like it!"

Flora clapped merrily before getting serious again. "We are going to need a lot of material," she said grudgingly.

"I know where we can get some," Kowalski told her, jumped onto the concrete island, and shook his feathers free of water.

Flora giggled when it got onto her feathers but she simply brushed it away while asking, "Where?"

"The hardware store," Kowalski answered and looked at Flora fondly, the water sparkling on her feathers.

"What about an electrical outlet store?" Flora suggested.

"Either is fine," Kowalski admitted.

"Places!" Skipper suddenly shouted to the other penguins from the floe. They all immediately got into place on the floe if they weren't there already, and started shaking their tail feathers at the audience. "And…stop," Skipper ordered. They faced the audience again and started smiling and waving for the final time.

The bell to the zoo rung promptly, signaling the closing of the zoo. Alice ushered the visitors out quickly and soon left afterwards, happy to be on her way home.

"Well I guess-" Amber started but stopped when Marlene flipped into their habitat.

"Guys! There is some weird guy looking around here. He's coming this way!" Marlene informed them.

"You need to get out of here Marlene. We'll handle this," Skipper said with reassurance and waved her off for her own good.

Marlene nodded briskly and quickly went out of the habitat before she was spotted.

Just like Marlene had said, there was a weird man there. The penguins eyed him suspiciously. His face wasn't visible because of a large hat covering it. He wore a long trench coat and had black pants, signs of mystery. He looked rather bulged at some parts, like his arms that gave him a muscled look. The rest of him was covered up, except for his pale hands and dark black shoes. The man just watched the penguins for a long period of time. It was strange. What was he doing here? The zoo was closed, so how did he get in?

"Maybe we should show him out," Amber growled and folded her flippers behind her back with a menacing glare on her features. With that said, the man walked away and hurtled over the zoo walls, which shocked the penguins. "That is not normal."

* * *

><p>The man threw the coat off and revealed three stacked lobsters, one holding two fake hands.<p>

The lobster on top pulled out a cell phone and struggled to dial a number. "Why did doc make us use cell phones?"

"I dunno," the two lobsters replied together and shrugged, briefly loosing their balance that way, making the lobster on top shout at them. "Sorry."

The leading lobster rolled his eyes and continued to struggle with the phone. After a minute or two, the lobster finally got the number and spoke into the phone. "Yeah doc, they're still there. Yeah, I have no idea how the monitors broke down." The lobster looked down accusingly at the bottom one.

"What? A lobster needs his coffee," the bottom one grumbled.

The top lobster rolled his eyes but listened to the voice on the other end. "I don't think they'll be leaving anytime soon. Of course doc. What? Why do we have to do all the dirty work? Alright, alright. We'll do it tomorrow, those penguins are suspicious. Alright, see ya boss." The lobster hung up on the phone. "We strike tomorrow. Now let's go, I remember seeing a bar somewhere around here."

* * *

><p>"That guy was suspicious. What do you think he wanted?" Amber asked Skipper. They had all gone back down into the HQ after he left and immediately went about discussing the stranger. It was obvious that it was a sketchy character.<p>

Skipper looked around with paranoia edging his every move. "He could have been a spy."

"You're just being paranoid," Sara sighed. "Not everyone is a spy!"

Private looked at them with innocence. "Maybe he just wanted to see us?" he suggested hopefully, though it didn't seem likely.

"When the zoo was closed?" Kowalski piped in.

"I don't even remember seeing him come into the zoo," Flora added.

"So what are we going to do then? The situation is far too suspicious and sketchy to just forget about it."

"Kaboom!" Rico exclaimed with a stick of lit dynamite that Skipper promptly blew the fuse out.

"No Rico. We're going to avoid explosions. We can't have people seeing that mess." Skipper rolled his eyes.

"Aw…" Rico moaned. Madison patted his back comfortingly.

"We should keep a look out. You never know when something will pop out and take you out!" Skipper exclaimed in his usual paranoia driven world.

"Words to live by." Amber smirked. "I'll see you all later. I'm going to hang around the clock tower to look out for any suspicious activity." She then jumped out of the HQ without waiting for a response.

Amber flipped over the fence and made her way to the tower at the gate. She jumped against walls so she could propel herself upwards. She landed on top and surveyed her surroundings. There was no sign of that mysterious man, much to her disappointment. Amber flinched and turned around when she heard three thumps behind her. She smirked when she saw her team.

"You know you'll have to tell them eventually." Flora crossed her flippers over her chest.

Amber frowned. "_We_ would tell them. They still don't need to know. It's our business anyway," she growled.

"But Amber, our families are dead. Why shouldn't we tell them?" Sara inquired with sadness in her eyes.

"If we tell them then it will complicate our operations. They might even think were using them," Amber replied, as if it were obvious.

Flora took a step forward. "Aren't we kind of already doing that?" she asked hesitantly. Amber rubbed her temple and waved her off. "We're not telling them and that's final. Go back to HQ. I'm going to keep a look out for that human."

The girls reluctantly saluted and jumped off the clock tower. Amber turned back to the Central Park view and sighed. _Why is everything so complicated?_

* * *

><p><strong>Revenge! Amazing how interesting it is. It's the beginning of a new story and hopefully it won't suck. <strong>**This was more like a filler chapter. It's still the beginning of a new adventure!**

**Amber: Adventures are cool.**

**Me: We finally agree on something!**

**Kowalski: What about hating Julien?**

**Me: Oh and that too.**


	2. Captured

Skipper stirred his cup of coffee with a fish tail, his norm. It was just another day at the Central Park Zoo. The zoo had closed for the day, so there were no visitors for them to entertain. When they had finished training, they thought they deserved a well earned, relaxing break. Everybody was just lying back on lounge chairs and enjoying the suns rays that warmed them pleasantly.

"Beautiful day," Sara murmured happily.

"Just like yesterday." Private smiled.

Flora looked at Kowalski when a thought struck her. "That reminds me. Kowalski, let's work on a weather machine later like we planned," she told the other intelligent penguin.

"You got the right parts for the machine?" Kowalski asked, remembering her going off yesterday to find some.

Flora nodded. "Yeah, I had got some yesterday from the mall around here." The female second in charge made a gesture to the city.

"Good, we'll work on it later," Kowalski said and stretched his flippers out to catch more of the suns rays.

It went silent again, until Madison's stomach rumbled from hunger.

The silent penguin got up from her lounge chair that was next to Rico's and went to get some fish for herself. She quickly waddled to the fishbowl and picked up one of the many fish there. She tossed it into her beak and started back for her lounge chair. By the time she got back, her vision got all fuzzy and blurry. She stopped walking and swayed around, like she was drunk. Everything was disoriented.

"Madison? Are you alright?" Flora asked, concerned. Madison lifted a flipper up and, before she could do anything, she fell over.

"Madison!" everyone exclaimed. Everybody jumped off of their lounge chairs and went to the fallen penguin. Flora and Kowalski; however, went to the fish and examined it.

"This isn't right…" Flora mumbled. "Look at this." She showed Kowalski a half cut fish, which contained an odd oozing liquid.

"This fish was spiked!" Kowalski exclaimed. "It has a chemical that is intended to make the target unconscious."

"Which means someone purposely spiked the fish to get all of us to a helpless state," Flora stated and examined at the fish more carefully. "A _very_ heavy drug I might add. Someone wanted us all to eat it."

"What? Who would do something like that?" Sara asked. Immediately after she said that, a electric cage fell on top of her. "What's going on?" she shrieked. She attempted to touch the cage but it immediately shocked her, sending electrical waves up her spine. She yelped in pain, and retracted her flipper. She looked down upon her flipper and winced as she saw it steaming from the burnt flesh underneath her feathers.

"Don't touch that, it'll shock you!" Flora exclaimed pointlessly.

"Really now? I wouldn't have guessed!" Amber shouted with her voice dripping with thick sarcasm. An electrical cage then fell on top of her and Flora also. Amber looked around angrily and lost her temper. "Seriously? Can I go to one place without being attacked or abducted? It's Las Vegas all over again! I curse who ever created these damn things!"

"How do we get Sara out?" Skipper asked, scowling.

"You don't!" a voice shouted from above. All the conscious penguins looked up and saw two lobsters coming down from a helicopter.

"Lobsters?" Sara questioned.

"Why lobsters?" Amber growled in question.

"Well, they are capable of delivering pain with their claws," Flora explained, shuddered, and tapped her flippers together nervously. An electric cage went on top of Madison as Sara whimpered, "Meep."

One lobster took out a smoke bomb and threw it at the penguins. The two lobsters put on gas masks and went back up the ropes that were attached to the helicopter. The penguins tried to avoid smelling the gas but they couldn't escape and were knocked out from the chemical gas the bomb produced.

One lobster attached cables to the four cages and signaled for them to leave. The cages were lifted up into the aircraft and they left after that, no more damage done. The male penguins laid there, knocked out from the gas, unaware that the girls were captured and were being taken to a mad doctor.

**(A couple of hours later)**

"Uh…what?" Skipper groaned. He rolled over and laid on his back, blinking his eyes to get adjusted to the suns brightness. "That was a weird and horrible dream."

"It was no dream Skipper," Kowalski muttered sadly, appearing in his sight. "They're gone."

Skipper sat up quickly and looked around frantically. No sign of the girls. Private was sobbing; Rico was looking around like the maniac he was, while Kowalski was writing, or drawing, something on his clipboard.

"What happened?" Skipper rubbed his head. His memory was kind of fuzzy about what had happened.

Kowalski looked up from his clipboard and flipped it around so Skipper could see his drawings. It showed pictures of lobsters, penguins in cages, and a dolphin on an adjusted segway. "Lobsters, most likely from Dr. Blowhole, have attacked and captured the girls. They have most likely been taken to Coney Island for who knows what. They're trapped in electric cages, so there escape isn't likely in their favor," Kowalski explained.

Skipper clenched his flippers as he finally remembered what had happened. "Blowhole!" Skipper yelled at the sky.

"Why would he do that?" Private sobbed.

"Classic villainous act. They take what's most important to you," Kowalski muttered and looked down at the ground.

"It's a movie cliché." Skipper shook his head.

"Pen-gu-ins…" Dr. Blowhole's voice drowned out from the opened fish bowl hatch.

The four penguins shot down the hatch and looked at the TV. They were immediately greeted with the sight of Blowhole. Private wiped away the tears that were coming down his face and composed himself.

Skipper's eyes formed a dangerous glare at the bottlenose. "Blowhole," he growled.

"In case you haven't already figured it out, I have captured your flightless friends." Blowhole moved out of the way, so they could see the four female penguins hanging on a wall with metal braces on there flippers and feet. Amber was glaring at the screen, Sara looked like she was crying, Flora was looking around curiously, and Madison was trying to chew her flipper off to escape, which honestly wouldn't help.

"Stop calling us flightless!" Amber shouted at the doctor.

Blowhole ignored her. "I have captured these flightless birds-"

"Stop calling us that!" Amber interrupted again and eyed him with pure hatred.

"-And I'm going to make them suffer. I just dare you to save them my flightless foes."

Right before the screen shut off, they heard Amber complaining about the flightless remark, again.

The guys stared at the screen angrily for minutes. It was silent as they all had different thoughts. But most of their thoughts were about how they were going to destroy Blowhole. Their thoughts were also plagued with worry for the girls. The silence progressed for minutes until Private finally broke it.

"What are we going to do now Skippah?" Private asked.

Skipper straightened his posture and folded his flippers behind his back with a determined look, devoted to saving the girls. "We're going to save them, and then we're going to nail Blowhole to the wall!"

* * *

><p><strong>Short chapter, I know. My thought process is disoriented or something. <strong>

**Amber: I thought your whole being was disoriented.**

**Me: Well you thought wrong!**

**Skipper: You sure?**

**Me: Why do you two hate me?**

***Silence***

**Me: Aw, I feel loved! Not. Well I'll update soon. Sorry for the short chapter, having a bit of a writers block. Future chapters will be longer, I think.**


	3. Stuck in Here

"How are we getting out of this one?" Sara sniffed. She tried to stop her flow of tears, but she just couldn't. This was a terrible experience for her, for everyone for that matter.

"I don't know. Maybe if we act dead…" Amber trailed off. She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard a familiar gnawing sound. "Madison, would you give it a rest! Chewing your flipper off won't help." The female CO shook her head disapprovingly. "Same goes for the metal braces."

Madison stopped biting at the braces and slumped in them. She had given up on chewing her flipper a while ago. Her flipper was bleeding now but that was the least of her problems at the moment, considering that they were trapped by a bottlenose dolphin.

"The metal is made out of titanium. I doubt anyone of us could make a dent, much less destroy it," Flora rambled. "It's highly impossible, and we have no chance at-"

Amber cut off Flora's depressing ramblings. "Will you stop that already? We will get out of here. Somehow…"

"Yeah." Sara tried to brighten the mood. "No one can hold us for long. We're like a pack of…um…" The young bird struggled to find the right word.

"Dynamite?" Amber suggested unenthusiastically with a blank look that Sara failed to notice.

"Yes, dynamite! We're like dynamite," Sara said happily, finally able to stop crying.

Madison smiled bitterly and thought about explosions. The silent female avian frowned deeply when she remembered Rico. She sighed despairingly.

"It's alright Madison," Flora said comfortingly, noticing her friend's sadness. "We will be back in no time, and then you can be with Rico."

Sara moved forward a bit so she could catch a look at her friend. "Then you can spend all the time in the world with him," she added.

"Technically we never know when the world would end and time is a continuous thing, so-" Flora cut herself off when she noticed her fellow penguins giving her an exasperated look.

Sara looked at her with scorn. "Must you take the fun out of everything?" she sighed.

"I don't do it on purpose," Flora argued with her flippers trying to make a gesture. She briefly struggled in them to escape till she realized how pointless it was to even try doing such a task.

"Then why do you say those kinds of things?" Sara asked, scowling.

"I can't help it! It's just a natural thing for me," Flora admitted with fake defeat.

"Well can you try to control it?" Amber asked, annoyed.

"Um…maybe?" Flora responded, unsure if she could.

Their conversation was interrupted by the metal door opening to reveal Blowhole.

Amber glared at him with fiery intensity, her eye color flickering in the dimly lit room. She spat, "What do you want you damn fish face son of a-"

Blowhole cut her off by yelling, "Shut up already! Geez, you won't stop talking!" The bottlenose shook his head. Madison blew a raspberry at him that made Blowhole glare at her instead.

Amber shouted, "You are just an oversized fish! I swear, you du-"

That was enough for the evil dolphin. Blowhole smirked when he pressed a button on his segway. The braces started running electricity through the penguins bodies, making them cry out in pain.

"Mercy!" Sara screamed.

Blowhole pressed the button again, and their torture ended. For the time being.

Amber glared at Blowhole, ignoring her burning flesh. "Was that necessary?" she barked. A faint trace of guilt was in her bones, knowing it was her fault they had gotten shocked. Well partly. Madison didn't really help.

Dr. Blowhole smirked at her. "I would think so." He added, "And it is rather entertaining to see you four wither in agony and knowing that you're powerless with no one to rescue you."

Amber hissed, "We won't be here long, damn you. Damn you to hell!"

Blowhole didn't react besides the twitch at the corner of his mouth, signaling his annoyance.

Amber rolled her eyes and looked at her team in concern. Sara had passed out from the electric experience, Flora was struggling to show she wasn't in pain, which she very much was, and Madison had started struggling in her braces again. "Are you all alright?" Amber asked.

"Doing fine," Flora replied weakly with a bitter smile. Madison ignored her friends and continued to bite and gnaw at the metal braces. "Do you think Sara will be ok when she wakes up?" Flora inquired quietly.

"If I know her well enough, and I know I do," Amber started. "She might wake up crying. The poor girl doesn't deserve this."

"Agreed," Flora murmured. The second in charge finally closed her eyes from exhaustion. Madison had apparently done the same and was snoring away.

Amber turned back to the dolphin, who was focused on a nearby monitor in the room. "What kind of sick animal are you? What do you even plan to do with us?" the silver avian asked with obvious scorn to him and his actions. She had a good idea on what it was he was planning, a villain cliche, but she was hoping she was dead wrong for once.

Blowhole turned toward her to answer. "I planned on using you four pen-gyu-ins to lure my foes here. Until they come, and I know they will, I will torture all of you and gather information. The results of my plans will be a blast, I assure you."

Amber looked at him suspiciously. "What kind of information?"

"Just your secrets and more," Blowhole said in such a way that made Amber feel that twitch of fear that so rarely came. "I know I will get some, because I got many sources." Blowhole left with that, and his laugh echoed throughout the room when he saw her horrified expression.

Amber's expression turned into a hard glare that was so intense on the door that it might as well have melted from the fiery emotion. She sighed after moments of staring, and brought herself into her thoughts.

_So we're trapped. We have nothing to help us escape, and my team is in no fit for duty. Madison injured herself already, and Sara seems emotionally scarred for life. Flora is… ok I suppose. If the guys come here it will be a trap, and I'm positive that Blowhole has something specially planned for them. But what could it be?_

Amber sighed and tried to look at the small monitor in the room, squinting. It didn't show much. Just a corridor in the many passageways in the dolphin's lair. Amber felt some of her conflicted emotions. She just had too many inside her to count. She felt anger toward Dr. Blowhole, concern for her friends, and she felt an overwhelming feeling to see Skipper again with that charming smirk of his. Just Skipper? Amber would have slapped herself if her flippers weren't trapped in the dumb braces.

"Emotions suck," Amber muttered with venom. She looked back at the monitor and saw three lobsters come down the hallway. One of looked drunk, and was swaying and running into walls. _That's why animals don't drink,_ Amber thought, ever so faintly amused.

The silver penguin looked at the accursed braces that kept her attached to the wall. They did look a lot like titanium. She tried to yank her flipper around but it was no use. This wasn't going to work. She looked over at the snoring Madison and made a 'psst' sound. That didn't work.

"Hey Madison," Amber whispered, loud enough to hear but quiet enough so Flora and Sara wouldn't wake up. Madison snorted awake and looked around worriedly for a moment. Her gaze rested on her leader, and she eyed her warily when she realized who it was. "Got any progress on those braces?"

Madison looked at them and turned back to Amber, shaking her head. There was only a tiny dent but that wasn't saying much.

"I need you to do me a favor." Amber said it more like a demand. Madison looked at her curiously. "If we make it out of here… I need you to promise me that all three of you will run away and never look back, alright?" Madison looked at her, confused, but nodded her head anyway. "Good. And don't worry, I'll tell Flora, and Sara that when they wake up."

Madison yawned and nodded slowly. She quickly fell back asleep, and left her leader to contemplate to herself.

_Blowhole is probably going to get something about us and I can't let them know about me. It's just not safe if they know about me. I doubt they'll even have respect for me afterwards. They might even turn me in...there is no running away from this. Unless the guys get here on time._

Amber sighed. That was unlikely to happen. She struggled briefly in her braces before slumping again. Was there anyway out of here? She looked around the room and took in her surroundings. There wasn't a way of escape, even if they got out of these demon braces. It was a dull gray room with only one door. There was, of course, the tiny monitor at the corner in the room. Their escape wasn't likely.

"Curse you Blowhole!" Amber shouted in the room. Surprisingly, it didn't wake up her team. "They're just lumps on a log. I wonder if I should give them extra training," she spoke aloud. "And now I'm talking to myself. I finally lost it." Amber shook her head. She turned her head when she heard a small groan. She frowned when she discovered it was Sara, who was next to her.

"You haven't lost it," Sara murmured and gave Amber a weak smile. Trying to be the light of hope and happiness again. Amber respected her for that much.

"You sure about that?" Amber asked skeptically.

Sara nodded. "You don't look crazy. My uncle Stan, now he was a nut chop," she giggled. Those words made Amber chuckle herself but that diminished quickly. "Do you think they'll come?" Sara asked sadly.

Amber knew who she meant. "They might but don't get your hopes up," she snorted. Sara looked down sadly and sniffled. "Don't cry Sara," Amber groaned. "You've done it to much, and it won't solve anything in this situation."

"I'm sorry Amber." Sara held back her tears. "I'm just worried about all of us, and I miss Private."

"It has been a day and you already miss him?" Amber inquired with disbelief

"Well that's what…love does." Sara felt heat on her cheeks at her own words.

The silver penguin looked away. "Even with the fake love I had, I never felt that way," Amber muttered and stared back at the small penguin.

"It's alright," Sara comforted. "I'm sure there is someone out there for you." Sara even had an idea on whom.

"I don't want love anymore," Amber growled. "It's too much of a hassle and it's going to end the same way every time."

"What about…Skipper?" Sara asked hesitantly.

Amber looked at her shocked but her cheeks heated up from under her feathers. "S-Skipper? What is going on in your head?" she hollered.

Sara smiled knowingly then. "You like him, don't you?" she pressed.

"He's a good friend but he's nothing more!" Amber managed to stop her blush.

"I'm pretty sure he likes you it," Sara told her with confidence.

"Doubt it." Amber rolled her eyes. At this point, who would like her? "If he knew what I really was about anyway, there would be no way he'd like me."

"What on earth do you mean? You're a great penguin!" Sara exclaimed.

Amber sighed and shook her head at Sara's naive little mind. "Not really. In my past, no way. Right now? I guess I'm alright."

"What happened in your past?" Sara asked curiously with wide eyes.

"That's none of your business," Amber snapped, harsher then she had intended to be. Sara looked back down and avoided Amber's gaze. She fought back the tears threatening to come. Amber regretted hurting the little penguin's feelings. "Sara don't cry, alright? I just don't want to talk about it."

Sara looked back up at her leader. "You probably just need some sleep," she suggested.

Amber scoffed. "I'm perfectly ship shape. I don't need rest. Besides, someone needs to keep an eye out and that's me."

"Please Amber! You need your rest," Sara begged. "You won't be able to defend yourself if you don't," she added. That last part most have reasoned something inside the stubborn penguin.

"Alright but if someone dies in their sleep, it's not my fault." Amber closed her eyes, awaiting sleep to come. It was hard since they were on a wall but she would cope. Sara smiled proudly for her success and closed her eyes so she could go back to sleep.

The whole time, Blowhole was watching them on a monitor, smirking.

* * *

><p><strong>New chapter, new possibilities. Thanks again for the reviews. <strong>**Blowhole's has a plan and it's going to affect all of them! So many discoveries are going to be made. **

**Amber: Why must you give away our secrets?**

**Me: Cause the people are curious. Now please review.**


	4. Quick Interrogations

Blowhole was currently eyeing the monitors, watching as the female penguins fell asleep. Since there wasn't anything interesting about that, it would be perfect to continue his multi stage plan. He pressed a button and a lobster came in shortly after. "Red one, bring in three of the prisoners," he ordered.

The lobster nodded in acknowledgment, skittered down a corridor, and went to fetch some of their prisoners they had captured a while ago. A few minutes later, the lobster brought three penguins in shackles into the room. "I got three prisoners doc," the lobster told Blowhole. He tied the chain attached to the penguin's shackles to a nearby metal bar so they couldn't escape.

"Excellent, you are dismissed red one," Dr. Blowhole dismissed. The lobster quickly exited the room with a door closing behind it. "Now what do you know of the female pen-gyu-ins?"

"Why should we tell you?" a male penguin snapped. He had ebony feathers with a white chest and had strange yellow eyes. There were patches where he had lost feathers and his ribs were showing due to lack of food. His eyes were glazed over since he hadn't seen sunlight in a long time. He also had a large noticeable scar over his chest where feathers had stopped growing.

"Or else you will face certain death," Blowhole answered coldly.

One of the other male penguins, the shortest, swallowed. He had ebony feathers with an ivory colored chest. He had green eyes and patches where feathers were missing with his ribs also showing. "What do you want to know?" the short penguin asked nervously, tapping his flippers together.

"We can't tell him," a rather large penguin told them. He was a fat flightless bird and had ebony feathers with a belly that had dulled to gray over the time he had been imprisoned. He had ocean blue eyes and, just like the other penguins, he had lost patches of feathers and his ribs were showing from lack of food. "We promised not to tell, remember?"

"I can easily kill the female pen-gyu-ins if you don't tell me what I wish to know," Blowhole growled at the three male birds. That hit them hard. He could easily dispose of them, and it would be their fault just because they didn't tell him what he wanted to know.

The large penguin sighed and repeated the smaller ones words. "What do you want to know?"

Dr. Blowhole smiled evilly. "What had they done in their past that you know of?"

* * *

><p>"Can't we just take the subway Skippah?" Private asked.<p>

"Private, he'd be expecting that! Now let's fly," Skipper ordered.

The penguins started shaking their tail feathers to fizz up their bottles of soda. The tops popped off of the soda bottles and the penguin team took off on their jetpacks to save their female correspondents.

"When do you think we'll get there Kowalski?" Skipper asked.

"The estimated time is approximately two hours till we arrive," Kowalski replied.

Skipper was not satisfied. "Not fast enough."

* * *

><p>Dr. Blowhole had learned some very interesting information when he was done. "Very interesting. Now what are your relationships of these penguins?"<p>

"I'm Sara's cousin," the shorter penguin answered nervously.

Dr. Blowhole then asked, "Name?"

"Danny," the flightless avian, Danny, replied.

"And you?" Blowhole asked the large bird, who was on the yellow eyed penguin's left.

"Madison's brother. My name is Max," Max told him reluctantly. What was the point in keeping everything a secret anymore?

Blowhole turned his gaze to the yellow eyed penguin, who was in the middle. The penguin, already knowing what he was going to ask, said, "Amber's step brother, my name is Zero," Zero spat the words at the dolphin, as if he wasn't worthy to hear this information. He was by far the least informed on Amber's past.

"Blowhole, have these penguins been any trouble?" a voice asked in a mocking way that the penguins failed to notice, except for Zero.

The penguins looked shocked as a fellow penguin came into light. "What are you doing? Run for it!" Max shouted.

"Why would I run?" The stranger gave a disturbing smile, preferring to stay mostly in the shadows.

"So that fish doesn't get you!" Danny shouted.

"I am not a fish, I'm a mammal!" Blowhole exclaimed angrily. "I breathe oxygen and everything!"

Zero looked at the mysterious penguin angrily. "You're working with him aren't you?" he growled.

"Yes," the penguin answered simply like he honestly didn't care. He didn't appear fazed by any of their words.

"What?" Danny and Max gasped in disbelief.

Zero glared fiercely and pointed an accusing flipper at the stranger. "I never did trust you! Amber was right, we should have thrown you out of the colony!" he roared.

"Lobsters, take the prisoners away," Blowhole ordered into a microphone. He didn't want to deal with the annoying avian birds anymore.

The penguins shouted and put up a struggle. Multiple lobsters began shoving them out of the room as soon as their chains were untied from the metal pole. "You're a traitor, how could you do this to us-!" Zero's voice was cut off when the doors slammed shut behind him.

"All is going to plan. I'm learning some interesting things about our little pen-gyu-in friends," Blowhole snickered.

"When will your foe come?" the mysterious penguin asked impatiently and crossed his flippers over his broad chest.

"Doc, doc!" a lobster came in. "The penguins are in a one hour radius of here."

"Excellent. When they come, I will start my plan, and their teams will be destroyed!" Blowholes maniacal laughter mixed with the penguins own laugh.

"So...can I have my lunch break now?" the lobster asked.

* * *

><p><strong>Blowhole may be a bit OOC but nobody's perfect. Especially me.<strong>

**Holy crap their family is alive! Well three of them at least. Max and Danny return! This wasn't my best chapter, but I'm running out of ideas already. Sorry that it was so short, but I want to get it moving, and yet get the right information in.**

**Sara: Sounds complicated. But I'm so glad Danny's ok, I missed him!**

**Me: He is only feathers and bones!**

**Sara: It's still good to know he's alive...**


	5. Falling Apart

"Steady men. We're closing in." Skipper and his team were getting nearer to Coney Island where the girls were captured at. "We go in, save them, and get out as fast as possible. Got it men?"

"Affirmative," Kowalski answered. "Sounds simple enough I suppose," he muttered under his breath.

"Got it Skippah!" Private replied.

"Uh huh!" Rico grunted out with his tongue flying out as they soared in the air.

Skipper looked down but couldn't make out much. "A little lower men," Skipper ordered. The penguins got lower, and they were soon above Coney Island by multiple meters. "Kowalski, report."

The strategist quickly looked around. "No sign of Blowhole or the girls Skipper," he reported.

"Keep looking," Skipper ordered. "I have a feeling Blowhole is just waiting for us."

* * *

><p>"They're here boss," a lobster reported, who was watching the monitor when he saw four penguins' appear on his monitor.<p>

Dr. Blowhole looked serious while watching the monitor with the red crustacean. "Send in the arch enemy seeking missiles!" he ordered. The lobster pressed a button and four missiles were shot out, targeting the four male penguins. "Is the trap prepared?"

"Yes. The cage is ready and we got the claw prepared, just in case," the lobster answered.

Blowhole grinned. "Excellent."

* * *

><p>It was a silent search, until Skipper thought he heard something. No, he <em>knew<em> he heard something. He listened more closely. Yup, there was definitely some sort of sound. "Do you hear that?" Skipper asked suspiciously, looking around warily.

Kowalski listened also. "Sounds like…" he started.

"Missile!" Rico shouted. Just as he said that, a missile flew right past him. "Whoa!"

Skipper knew that this was going to happen; he was just hoping they had more time before it did. "Split up men! That missile can't get all of us!" he shouted over the whirling sound of the arch enemy seeking missile.

"There's not just one!" Kowalski dodged just in time to avoid another missile that had appeared.

Skipper did the same but was well prepared this time. "Smoked salmon! Go down boys," Skipper ordered. They got lower but it soon proved to be a mistake. A giant claw came out of the ground and snatched them before they could react. "Crud." The claw took them underground, and they were thrown into a suspending metal cage. _Well, that didn't take long for it to go completely wrong, _Skipper thought bitterly. He rubbed his head and looked at his teammates in concern.

"Ow," Kowalski moaned.

"Kowalski?" a voice shouted in surprise. The penguins looked up and saw the girls in braces, right across from them. Flora appeared to be the only one awake. That was until Amber started stirring around in her braces, waking up under the noise.

"I didn't do it," Amber mumbled groggily. She immediately noticed the guys, and her eyes widened in surprise. "Hey," was all she said.

Skipper narrowed his eyes at her and stood up. "Hey? All you can say is hey?"

The silver female rolled her eyes. "Well what did you expect? 'Oh I'm sorry your trapped?'"

"Well we came here to help," Kowalski mumbled and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

"Wonderful," Amber said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Do you know how many times we've been shocked by that fish? I'm surprised we're still alive! I would have thought we'd be fried birds by now."

Kowalski widened his eyes when he realized Flora could have been severely hurt. "Are you ok Flora?" he asked, concerned.

"Peachy," Flora sighed. She tried to ignore the searing pain of her body. It still ached from being electrocuted multiple times, and her muscles were stiff from staying in the same position for so long. All in all, she felt terrible.

There was a moan and everyone saw Sara waking up.

"Sara!" Private exclaimed. That got her attention, and she snapped her head up. She smiled widely and looked at Private with a happy gleam in her eyes. "Are you alright?"

Sara's smile faltered. "I feel so much pain right now," she groaned. Private frowned, gripped the bars of the cage, and looked at her worriedly.

Madison was currently waking up also. She tried to move but quickly remembered where she was. She didn't notice everyone staring at her as she struggled fiercely in the accursed braces. She stopped for a second and started panting. Just as quickly as she stopped, she started up all over again.

"Madison, would you calm down!" Amber hollered. Madison stopped and glared at Amber. She turned to her flipper and started biting at it. "Chewing your flipper off won't help! What would that solve anyway?"

The mute avian growled and continued to gnaw at her flipper, failing to realize what it would accomplish.

"Madison!" Rico grunted from the suspending cage. Madison stopped and looked around curiously until she spotted Rico. She smiled and grunted happily. It was good to see Rico and the other guys. Her smile quickly turned into a frown when she realized the position he was in. It wasn't any better then what they were in, except that they could actually move around.

"Why did you bother coming here?" Amber asked Skipper harshly.

Skipper didn't appreciate her attitude or tone. He knew she had been in a funk for months now but she didn't need to act like this. "To save all of you," he answered through narrowed eyes at her. Why was she being so ungrateful when they had at least _tried_ to save them?

"Well it was obviously a trap. Blowhole just wanted all of us here," Amber growled.

"Well if he did want us all here, then he should have captured us at the same time. He could have easily done that with his lobsters getting the drop on us. Why would he want to capture only us first?" Flora questioned.

Amber hesitated, already knowing the answer. "He wants to get our secrets," she said, low enough so only the girls could hear. "He also wants to torture us for his own sick amusement," the female CO grumbled, back in her regular volume. "He told me what he planned on doing to us. Now what kind of villain tells his plans?"

"Not a very good one I suppose," Flora mused with a blank expression. "To believe a dolphin could…" she trailed off there. Dolphin? She remembered something immediately and felt herself going into a flashback.

**(Flashback in Flora's POV)**

_I raised a brow in curiosity when I noticed some weird skin that had been crushed under one of the ice blocks. I took the skin out from the ice and examined it. It wasn't penguin skin or flesh, that was for sure. It didn't look like human skin or seal skin either. It was rather…blue. Even if a human was to have frost bite, it was impossible to get it to this shade. I had no idea what it was. I would have to examine it more closely later..._

**Later On**

_I placed the skin in the analyzer, and waited for it to come up with results. I squinted at the screen as results flashed on it. Odd. It was an underwater mammal. A…dolphin?_

**(End of Flashback)**

"Blowhole!" Flora exclaimed. Madison grunted in confusion. "Blowhole is the one that killed our family! It was him! I should have know, why didn't I realize this sooner?" Flora's voice was so loud that it made everyone want to cover up their ear holes. In a fail attempt to slap herself, Flora struggled in her braces, looking ridicules.

"Blowhole killed them?" Sara gasped.

"Yes! It's obvious! Back in Antarctica, I found this weird skin in our colony and-" Flora abruptly cut herself off. She winced as she realized she gave away some information. Amber was going to have her feathers after this was done. Amber gave a death glare to Flora; her eyes lit up like fire and looked like they could burn into her soul. At this point, it pretty much did.

"You actually went to Antarctica?" Skipper asked, rather surprised. "I thought you said you turned around?"

Amber sighed, looking exasperated. "We did turn around. We just had gone to Antarctica first."

"We found our family dead, so we came back here," Sara added. If Amber could move, she would have slapped Sara on the back of her naïve head.

"We needed to find the killer too and here was a good place to start," Flora added along. Amber wanted to smack Flora and Sara to another planet at this point. What were they doing? Love is a distraction; it'll make you poor your guts out!

"Why can't you two be like Madison and shut up!" Amber shouted. That hit all three of the girls hard.

Madison felt hurt and angry. No one should ever have to bring that up, it was her weak point. Her sadness was soon engulfed into pure fury. Madison thrashed in her braces and made loud threatening growls that were directed towards Amber, which was new. Flora and Sara looked down at the ground dejectedly.

Amber was being extremely harsh on them. It wasn't like her at all.

"So…you only came back because your family was dead?" Private murmured sadly. "Not because you wanted to be with us?"

"No, no, no!" Sara gasped and looked back up at Private. "We wanted to come back and be with all of you. But some didn't want to." Sara flashed a scowling glance at Amber. The silver CO glared back but turned her head away so she couldn't see any of the penguins.

Skipper had been staring closely at Amber the whole time and read her like a book. "So you were using us?" He challenged Amber to deny it.

Amber looked back at him and her eyes had drastically softened when she looked at Skipper. "We weren't using you guys," she answered.

"Really?" Skipper growled. "You came back because your family died, and you wanted to come to the Big Apple here, so you can start your revenge plan! I bet you were planning on doing the same thing when you were going to leave Antarctica once you got enough information. Just going to take our weapons again and leave without a sign. How is that not using us?"

Amber sighed and closed her eyes. Skipper must have an eye for this type of stuff. She couldn't help but admire it though.

"That's what we were going to do?" Sara whispered to her leader disbelievingly. "Just going to steal their stuff again?"

Amber turned to her with a blank stare and nodded. Sara's face flashed with surprise, but she quickly darted her gaze to the ground to hide her disrespect that she had never wanted to feel toward her leader. Amber turned away from the penguins once more, so she wouldn't see their looks but it was difficult because of her restraints. "I just can't believe Blowhole killed our families," Amber grumbled quietly, more to herself.

"Well the evidence says it all," Flora mumbled.

The penguins stayed in an awkward silence after that. That was until the only metal door in the room opened. Blowhole came in on his segway.

"Hello pen-gyu-ins," Blowhole greeted coldly. The penguins didn't even bother with him pronouncing the word wrong or even acknowledging his presence. They were too emotional deprived to do so and it was a waste of time as well. Well some of them found it a waste of time. "I have-"

Amber cut him off. "Yes we know. We have been captured, and we can't do anything about it. Blah, blah..." The female leader rolled her eyes. She was not in the mood. Actually, ever since she got here, she hasn't been in her best of moods. Not that she ever really had a good one.

"You take the fun out of being a villain you know that?" Blowhole scowled at her.

Amber smirked despite how she was truly feeling. "Just part of my job."

"You've had a lot of jobs," a voice spoke out.

Amber's eyes widened, along with her teams when they recognized that voice. "It can't be…"

"How stupid are you?" The very mysterious penguin stepped into the room. Light reflected on his feathers, so they could see the mysterious penguin.

"Satan!" Flora, Sara, and Amber gasped. Madison just looked rather shocked and could only stare with her beak parted open.

The penguin had creepy gray eyes, and his feathers were red at just about every inch of his body. Probably from too much blood being splattered on them. He had so many scars on his body that it was impossible to count. He was missing a toe on his left foot as well. He was well built and looked like he could crush you with one quick motion. He was slightly over Kowalski's height, and he held a dark look on his face that was terrifying to the average animal. The crooked smile on his face made it all the more disturbing.

Amber gaped. "What are you doing here!"

"Giving my assistance to Dr. Blowhole," Satan replied smugly at her expression.

Amber glared harshly. "You traitor! Why does no one listen to me? We should have fed you to the leopard seals! You never did anything for our colony! You just sat around like you couldn't do anything but you could!" she accused. Her blood was boiling to higher levels by the second. The other girls were just as mad at this point from the treachery.

"You're a traitor!" Sara spat.

"It takes a traitor to know a traitor," Satan shot back with venom. Sara swallowed and darted her gaze to the ground quickly.

Amber didn't bother to even look at Sara. "What does that mean?" she asked slowly but still suspicious.

"Didn't you know?" Satan mocked gasped. He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. You will all soon find out. Better stay quiet or I'll gut you all."

Skipper eyed this stranger with scorn, ignoring the threat but still hardly able to understand what ties he had with the girls. "What do you mean by that?"

"These girls aren't what you really think." Satan pushed past Blowhole and went right up to Amber. "You had a lot of dirty jobs over the years. Most of them getting you into jail. Correct me if I'm wrong?" Satan asked her quietly, so only she could hear. He smirked when Amber didn't say anything back, but her eyes told him everything. "You got quite the criminal record I might add. I looked over your files I found at your old prison." Amber glared and was just hoping she could melt Satan's head.

Satan laughed and waddled to the other side where Madison was. The female snarled at him fiercely and tried to attack him but it was completely useless. "You like freedom more then anything, don't you?" Satan asked.

Madison stopped struggling, and stared at the penguin with burning hatred before looking right back down. She panted and ignored the stares from the other penguins.

"Madison." Satan looked at the saddened psychotic bird. Madison looked up with conflicted emotions on her face. "Why don't you join us? Don't you want to be free? Wouldn't you rather have the fun of destruction then having a hold of your destructive rage with them?" Satan gestured to the other penguins with that deathly crazed smirk. Madison stared for a long time and, to everyone's horror, she nodded slightly. Satan twisted smile got darker in demonic delight. "Would you like to join us then?"

Madison just looked at him. Then her face scrunched up into a pondering one. She was actually trying to decide!

"Madison?" Sara whimpered and tried to tell if Madison was just playing along, but Madison's eyes told her differently. The flightless bird didn't pay her any attention. Madison put together the ups and downs of joining Satan and Dr. Blowhole. She looked back up at Satan and nodded. She would join them for her freedom.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry for the long wait, but I got a lot to do. Getting harder to update. Madison is joining them! Traitor! What will her friends say? What the heck will happen? Oh and Satan means plotter or adversary. There, gave you a quick and unnecessary lesson. Happy about that?<strong>

**Kowalski: I already knew what it meant.**

**Flora: So do I.**

**Me: Of course you do. *Rolls eyes* For any of you that are fans of these two, give them a cookie for being _so_ intelligent!**

**Flora: What was with you straining the word 'so'?**

**Kowalski: I think she's just trying to tick us off.**

**Me: Whatever gave you that idea? I'm in a bad mood but review. Hope you liked the chapter.**


	6. Reflecting

"What?" all the penguins exclaimed.

"What the hell are you agreeing to?" Amber hollered. Madison ignored her and looked at Satan expectantly.

"So you're in?" Satan asked suspiciously. Madison rolled her eyes and nodded. "You better be, or I swear I will rip your beak off and feed you to the sharks." Satan nodded toward Dr. Blowhole to free her.

Blowhole reluctantly pressed a button on his segway, and Madison's braces disappeared into the wall. She instantly fell flat on the ground. She moaned as she tried to get up, shaking as she did, but soon fell back onto the hard floor. Her muscles ached too much to get up from their forced position.

She attempted one more time and leaned her back against the wall. She cracked her neck, stretched her flippers, and twisted her back to regain feeling and flexibility. She let out a sigh of relief. It felt so good to stretch again. She took a couple of steps forward, so she could stretch her flippers out some more.

Satan made his way to her, and she backed away in caution but her back met the wall once more. Satan swiftly took out a collar he had been hiding and placed it over Madison's head. Before she could take it off, Blowhole pressed another button on his segway, and the collar tightened around her neck. She growled at the two villains.

"A little something to make sure you don't betray us," Satan explained and looked at her with sick satisfaction. "You mess up the slightest bit, and you're dead. You don't think we're that stupid do you?"

Madison snorted and crossed her flippers over her chest. She wasn't scared. At least on the outside she wasn't. Deep down she was terrified.

"You're really going to leave us?" Flora asked with wide eyes in disbelief. Madison slowly and reluctantly turned her head to Flora. She nodded her head with a determined expression. Flora's face fell, along with the other penguins.

Rico looked broken. How could she betray them? After all they did for her and the other girls, and now she was just going to leave them here to suffer? Rico couldn't believe it. It all felt wrong now.

"Come on. We got more planning to do," Blowhole snapped. The dolphin and the penguin left the room with the door closing behind them. Madison looked at the penguins through narrowed eyes. She re-adjusted her hat, so it was firmly on her head.

Amber looked at Madison as if she never knew her. "How could you?" she hissed. Madison grunted and crossed her flippers over her chest again. It wasn't like she could explain herself, even if she wanted to. But she didn't, and they weren't getting anything out of her.

"Why?" Rico grunted out. Madison ignored him and stomped her way out of the room with the doors closing behind her. All in all, she was in a pretty pissed off mood now. Rico looked down, crestfallen.

"It's alright Rico." Skipper patted his back. Rico shrugged the flipper off and turned away from his comrades. That didn't help him at all. _What if the whole thing was an act? _Rico thought startling. _Was it all fake? _Rico groaned at the thought and buried his head in his flippers. She wouldn't fake love right?

Amber's earlier fury had died down. She looked troubled now. "How can one of my own soldiers do that to me?" she muttered.

Sara hesitated. "What are we going to do now?" she whimpered.

"I'll tell you what we're _not_ going to do." Skipper stood up in the metal cage. "We're not going to mope around and be a bunch of nancy cats! We're going to take this head on, and we're going to beat into a pulp and make it run home to its momma!"

Amber smirked bitterly. "Hate to break it to you but we can't exactly do anything."

Skipper pondered for a moment. "Rico, got anything useful?" the flat headed leader barked to his weapons expert.

Rico turned to Skipper and coughed up a stick of dynamite. He chuckled a bit as he held it in his flippers. Rico was surprised when it was ripped from his grip. "What?" he grunted out, confused. He looked up and had just enough time to see a claw take his dynamite away and into the wall. "Aw…" Rico moaned in disappointment, slumped, and fell back on his rear.

Kowalski sighed and leaned back against the cage, losing hope. "I suspected that would happen," he mumbled.

Skipper whirled over at Kowalski's direction, looking cross. "Then why didn't you say anything?" he snapped. Kowalski shrugged in response.

"There isn't much we can do right now," Amber grumbled. "We can't use any weapons, we're trapped, and we just lost a fellow penguin."

"What do you think Madison is doing?" Sara asked curiously.

Flora decided to answer that one. "Whatever she's doing, we know one thing," she began.

"It's going to be violent," the three girls finished together.

* * *

><p>Madison had just finished her thirst for entertainment. A couple of lobsters lay at her feet, and they were badly injured. A way for her to take out her frustration and keep herself entertained. She rubbed her flippers together in ecstasy. She had her tongue hanging out of her beak as she waited for more. After a couple of seconds she calmed down and casually started waddling through the hallway.<p>

She knew Satan, and Dr. Blowhole was watching her. You didn't need to have a brain to know that. If they wanted to kill her for doing that, then they would have set the collar off already. She looked around curiously. With her now opened freedom, she could do almost anything she wanted. _Maybe I could look around… _Madison thought.

"Hey!" Satan's powerful, angry voice rang out in the hallway.

Madison stopped and sighed despairingly. _Maybe not then… _She turned around and saw Satan stomping over to her angrily. She looked up at him nervously as he towered over her. Hey, she was a tough penguin, but Satan was just insanely scary with his size, scars and that nasty attitude.

"Why did you attack those stupid minions?" Satan growled harshly. Madison shrugged in response. Satan shook his head. "We just need you to stay away from those penguin friends of yours. We don't need you attacking our free labor. Just stay out of the way, and nobody gets hurt. Got it?" Satan snarled. Madison's nodded stiffly, which seemed to satisfy Satan more or less. "Don't forget that I have the power to kill everyone. I will make them suffer every second. I will rip their hearts and eat them all in front of you. I'll have them ripped apart, piece by piece, and I'll take the pleasure of doing it. I will then shove their bones down your throat and burn their remaining parts into ash," Satan growled. This scared Madison, and her eyes went wide as she swallowed. Satan smirked darkly, clearly pleased with her reaction. Without another word, he left.

Madison blinked, and she slumped her shoulders that had been tensed up. Though she may not have been the smartest penguin around, she had no doubts that Satan wouldn't hesitate to do just what he threatened and that scared her. Guilt once more washed over. She decided to gather her thoughts and put together everything that had happened before they ended up in this stupid place.

_We got captured by Blowholes lobsters and then we woke up in a helicopter…_

**(Flashback in Madison's POV)**

_I woke up groggily. First thing I felt was an aching feeling in my stomach. Must have been the fish. I opened my glazed eyes as much as I could. I jumped up with startled eyes the second I saw my friends in cages, staring at me. I could tell Flora was struggling to avoid her claustrophobic condition._

_Sara was doing meditation in a cage, which made me notice I was in one as well. Flora was rocking back and forth in hers, trying to avoid a panic attack, and Amber seemed as cross as ever with how everything was working for her._

_"Good morning and welcome to planet Hell." Amber crossed her flippers over her chest._

_I growled and looked around frantically, briefly forgetting I was in a cage. I went to touch its bars, and I could just feel a tingling sensation as my flipper neared the bars._

_"Don't touch that!" Flora screamed. It was too late, and I was shocked by the cage. The electricity ran up my spine, which hurt, but it felt so interesting! I laughed dizzily and fell onto my bottom._

_"Is there a way out of this?" Amber asked Flora, dismissing my actions._

_"The cage seems to have been made specifically to keep us contained and is going to be impossible to destroy, considering our lack of weapons," Flora responded with her voice quivering. _

_"No kidding," Amber said sarcastically with her eyes rolling. "We go in and, no matter what we or he does, we won't let Blowhole break us. Got it?"_

_"Got it," Flora nodded hastily and Sara hummed in faint acknowledgment. I grunted the best I could._

_"We stick together. We're a team, and we don't leave each other behind."_

**(End of Flashback)**

Amber's words were stuck in Madison's head. It kept repeating like a broken record. _We stick together. We stick together. We stick together_. She growled to herself. _We don't always have to stick together! _Madison shook her head bitterly and trudged deeper into the hallways of Blowhole's HQ.

* * *

><p>Everybody in the blank room was currently sleeping to regain energy and it was noticeable that they slept for longer periods of time to keep up their deteriorating strength. Except two certain penguins weren't sleeping, since they were silently arguing with each other.<p>

Skipper wasn't as angry as he tried to appear. "You could have told us," he whispered. "Why didn't you bother?"

Amber turned her head away. "It wasn't any of your business," she hissed.

Skipper felt offended that she couldn't trust him. "Why couldn't you have trusted us?"

"You wouldn't have trusted us. No one does!" Amber's voice started to get louder.

"Keep it down before you wake them all up." Skipper glared.

Amber sighed. "Look, I swear that I didn't intend to harm anyone but the killer, AKA Blowhole." Amber rolled her eyes at the name. "We went to Antarctica and nobody was there, so we assumed they were dead. Anyway, Flora was able to convince me to come back here and start a search. Then we would leave again and give out or revenge to whoever did it, which is again Blowhole. Hate to admit it but…" Amber grumbled out some words that were inaudible to Skipper.

Skipper stood up in the generally small suspending cage, causing it to sway slightly. "What was that?" Skipper placed his flippers on his hips and raised a non existent brow at her.

"I…" Amber grumbled out the last words again.

"A little louder." Skipper scowled, frowning.

"I didn't really want to leave you ok?" Amber shouted finally with her face red from either embarrassment or anger. It was a mystery to how the penguins weren't awake from that. They had probably grown accustomed to it.

Skipper's eyes widened when he realized she only implied him. "Me?" he questioned, actually feeling touched.

Amber, for the first time, looked extremely flustered and embarrassed. "All of you guys! Not you! All of you!" Amber shouted while having to deal with her face burning up. Skipper didn't know why, but he felt something inside him stir. But in a good way. "Either way it doesn't matter." Amber took a shuddered sigh to calm herself down. "Our families are dead. I should have done something." Amber looked at the ground guilty. It just had to be her fault. Everything was her fault!

If she hadn't bothered to save Madison, Flora when they first met, or taking Sara into their team then they wouldn't be here. She might not be here. She might be dead or in jail again but still. It was better then what they were all going through right now.

"There was nothing you could do to prevent their death," Skipper assured, attempting to comfort Amber from a distance. "Either way it was going to happen. It was all part of his plan. You would have done anything for them, but you might not be here if you had stayed."

Amber looked up at Skipper and what he saw twisted his insides. She had the most heartbreaking expression he had ever seen. She looked so frail and defenseless to him that he felt like she was a different penguin in. He saw her in a new light.

"I'm not sure I can take it anymore Skips." Amber shuddered in her metal braces.

Skipper looked at her, confused but concerned. "What do you mean?"

"The pressure, the hate, and basically everything…I can't handle it anymore. When…when this is all over…I think I'm going to leave my team."

* * *

><p><strong><strong>I just want to throw all the work I have and have to do out the window! *Sigh* Ugh, the story isn't going the way I wanted it too... <strong>Not my best chapter, but I have to get the story moving. What the heck is going on? Amber is finally cracking! She's being a little OOC cause of this, but I just had to make it happen!**

**Amber: You're just being depressing.**

**Flora and Kowalski: Monster!**

**Me: I'm in a bad mood! Nothing new there. Now review or else…**

**Rico *Pulls out a chainsaw* Muahahahaha!**


	7. Madison's Discovery

**Madison's POV**

Is it bad when you betray your friends just for some freedom? Yes.

I admit that I feel a little bad for my friends suffering after all they have done for me. Heck, we hadn't eaten for three days! And here I am, eating some fish in the hallways of Blowhole's HQ. I had found it lying around, so I was eating it. No sense in wasting perfectly good fish right? But my friends have yet to eat anything since we got here.

They're just attached to the walls with nothing to eat. Throughout all my exploring, I had found a monitor that showed me them in their little prison. It was a despairing sight for me. I wonder if they're still my friends...

I had seen Amber, Flora, and Sara with their ribs starting to show already. All three of them looked really thirsty...not to mention hungry. They also had this glazed over look in their eyes that made them look kinda dead. I knew I was the same, except that my ribs weren't showing anymore. Mostly because I was eating fish to my hearts content.

The guys seemed to be more stable I guess. They haven't suffered from hunger yet. They just looked as depressed as my old team was. But it hurt to see Rico. I never really wanted to betray Rico. He's a big part in my life. _He probably thinks I hate him now…Maybe I could do something to show I still care? _

I looked down at the large pile of fish around me. _Maybe I could give them some? But how will I get past Satan and Dr. Blowhole without them noticing? _I sighed to myself. _Or maybe I should just face the consequences._

That probably would mean death and even before I could probably give them food, I would be shocked to dead. I was probably going to be electrocuted till my head exploded or something. _I wonder what that would look like… _I was broken out of my thoughts when I heard a pounding sound echo down the passage way I was in. I looked around curiously for the source, but I couldn't locate it from my position. _What's that noise?_

I got up and tossed a couple of more fish in my beak. I did my best to follow the sound. The noise grew louder with every few steps, I knew I was close.

I soon approached a metal door, where I believed the sound was coming from. Whoever or whatever was doing that wasn't banging on the door though. I guess my curiosity got the better of me as I forced the door open. The banging sound immediately stopped when I did. I narrowed my eyes. All I could see was darkness. I ran my flippers along the wall, hoping to find a light switch.

I smiled successfully when I found one. I flicked it up and the room was immediately flashed with a blinding light. I covered my eyes with my flippers to keep the blinding light away, hissing at it like it was poison. Hesitantly, I took my flippers away and looked through squinted eyes, so it could adjust without burning them alive. Once I felt my eyes adjust, I opened them to their full extent. What I saw startled me.

At least a hundred penguins in two large different cages were in front of me. My beak dropped open as they all stared at me, recognition in their glazed over eyes. Strangely, I was thinking more about the cages then the penguins inside of them. _What's up with two cages? Why not one?_

"Madison?" a familiar voice rang out.

I turned my head slightly and gaped when I saw my own brother Max. He looked just as shocked as I was but there he was, happiness and excitement in his eyes. I smiled widely and ran over to him, stopping when I reached the bars. I held onto them while looking at my brother. Max looked like he was about to cry as he tried to hug me through the bars. I attempted to return the awkward hug, barely able to fit my flippers through. I thought he was dead!

"I didn't think I would see you again." Max rubbed the tears away from his eyes. He lit up with a look of realization, making me tilt my head, wondering what he was thinking. "Ted, Jake, get over here!"

My eyes went wider then they were before. _Ted and Jake? _Those were my two other brothers! They were alive too? My smile widened as I saw a tall penguin coming over with a tiny chick, who was losing some of his down feathers.

"Max?" the tall penguin gaped as he saw me.

"It really is her, Ted!" Max cried happily.

Ted watched me a little longer before a smile broke out on his face. He rushed over to the bars and tried to hug me, like Max had. Ted was about the same height as Max, which was around Kowalski's and Rico's height. He had ebony feathers with a white belly and was drastically thinner then Max.

"You really are alive! Get over here Jake!" Ted called over to the smaller penguin.

Jake waddled over to me slowly and tried to reach his small flippers through the cage to hug me. He had a black head and still had some of his grey down feathers. He also had brown eyes he had gotten from my dad. He tried even harder to squeeze me through the bars. I smiled, and I could have just broke into tears right there from seeing them. But something stopped me from doing just that. And that was what Max said.

"Mom, Dad, get over here!" Max shouted. My two brothers stepped away from me; I frowned, expecting the worse to come.

I didn't exactly like my parents and it was the same for them to me. My frown deepened when I saw some penguins separate for two avian birds that forcefully came through to come over. Then soon, right in front of me, were my parents. They didn't look any happier then I was at seeing them.

"Madison," my mom acknowledged coldly. I grunted at her. My dad only nodded at me, just barely acknowledging my presence. It didn't take long for an awkward tension to build around us. Everyone fell silent, their earlier excited chatter gone. "Are you going to get us out of here?" she snapped, breaking the silence.

My eyes became troubled. I rubbed the back of my neck as I pondered this. I would definitely would get killed if I did.

"Maddie?" Max got my attention. I turned to him with a hesitant smile. "You are going to help us get out of here, right?"

I shrugged and placed my gaze to the ground. But my head whipped up when I heard familiar voices.

"Hey Madison, get over here, now!" a commanding voice shook the room. I looked at Max apologetically and ran to the voice, coming up in front of some familiar faces. I smiled when I saw Zero, Amber's stepbrother, Danny and Elizabeth, Sara's cousins.

"It's good to see you!" Elizabeth exclaimed happily. She was rather cute.

She looked a lot like Sara and Danny. She had green eyes like Danny and also had ebony feathers and dull white chest feathers. I tried to ignore her protruding ribs and missing patches of feathers. I then noticed that every single penguin had their ribs showing, glazed over eyes, and were missing many patches of feathers. _How long have they been here?_

Three female penguins came up from her. It was Flora's sisters. I mentally groaned. I didn't like them that much either.

"Can you get us out of here?" Bella, Flora's oldest sister, demanded obnoxiously.

She had brown feathers just like Flora did. Just like the other penguins, she was missing patches of feathers, had glazed eyes, and her ribs showing. She had strange gray eyes and had a black blotch on the side of her stomach. I smiled mentally as I remembered how she got it. Flora's inventions always had hilarious results. I realized Bella's question, and I shook my head which shocked the penguins. Even Zero.

"Why not?" Zero snapped. I decided I'd go for a basic fact. It was one of the things stopping me at least. I pointed to the collar that was around my neck. Zero looked at the collar unimpressively. "Interesting technology. Not. It's a basic shock collar, only more intense. One shock and you're dead."

"Why don't you just take it off?" Jenny, Flora's youngest sister, besides Flora herself, shouted in exasperation. She had brown feathers too and blue eyes. Her appearance was just as messy as the other penguins.

I narrowed my eyes and growled at her, seething. _What makes you think I wouldn't have done it earlier_? I shouted in my head.

"She can't take it off. It's firmly placed around her neck," Danny explained and pointed to the forced thing I had to wear.

"She isn't smart enough to find a way out of that thing anyway," Terra, Flora's second oldest sister, commented. She also had brown feathers and green eyes. Just like the others, she was missing some of her feathers and everything. Those three never did like me, not that they liked anyone.

I felt my eye twitch at that statement. Before anything else was said, I heard the sound of someone approaching the room. Knowing I was endangering myself, I quickly went to the door of the room and waved goodbye to everybody. At least I knew my colony was alive. Everybody was alive but they're in bad condition still.

Most of them waved goodbye back, understanding what was going on. At least by a bit. I quickly switched the light off and slid out of the room. I closed the door behind me and did my best to look casual as I walked through the hallway. Casual was never really my thing, so I didn't think I would fool anyone. I grinned sadistically as I passed by the same lobsters I had beaten up earlier. I saw a camera following my every footstep as I passed by.

I was hoping Satan or Blowhole hadn't seen me on some hidden cameras or something. I wasn't very stealthy anymore. I was rather loud and careless when it came to stealth ever since that one incident. Amber was the best at stealth, not me. I sighed in a dejected way. I wasn't much use to my team now that I think about it. It was probably for the best that I left. Besides…Amber did say that if we survived this that we should run away and never look back. And so far, that was what I planned on doing.

* * *

><p>"Why her? Why not Sara?" Blowhole questioned, regretting Satan's decision to take Madison as their pawn.<p>

"You don't know them like I do," Satan started to explain to Blowhole. He kicked away an empty beer can, and it landed with a bunch of others in a corner of the control room. Satan kept drinking the liquid and slowly downed half a bottle of alcohol. Already, he was starting to look a bit drunk.

They would occasionally glance at the monitors throughout their chatting and drinking, which was done mostly by Satan. They were really only looking for Madison, because she was basically doing whatever she pleased while the others were trapped. They weren't escaping anytime soon.

"Madison isn't intelligent," Satan started up again. "She is one of those penguins who just don't think. The other three do think, and they're goodie goodies now. Madison is still a darker thing and always will be, so she is more likely to betray those 'friends' of hers."

"I see..." Dr. Blowhole murmured and went to a different computer and scrolled through the things on the screen that held all the records and information on all the penguins. The dolphin was only surprised with what the girls had. "I never would have thought Madison to be such a top notch assassin and thief before she meet all seven of those pesky pen-gyu-ins. She isn't really stealthy is she?"

Satan downed the rest of the bottle and tossed it away with glass shattering when it made contact with the wall. This made Blowhole's eyes twitch from the mess. Satan popped another wine bottle open and said, "That's why you have to watch out for her." He took a sip from the bottle and cleared his throat. "It's actually what got her to meet them. Stupid bitch..." Satan took a large gulp of the wine, almost falling out of his seat.

Blowhole scrolled down the page. "Is that were you got all those weapons?" he asked blankly, referring to the weapons Satan had back at his old home, where he refused to let anyone inside but himself. "Flora's old black market sales?"

Satan nodded drunkenly with an odd smirk and slurred, "She was a good supplier of her old weapons she made." The wine was finally getting to the avian and he started spilling out even more without knowing it. "It's a pity she rarely sells any of her pretty inventions anymore."

Blowhole eyed Satan for a moment and asked, "Why do you hate Amber so much?" He could press Satan as much as he wanted, now that he was drunk.

Despite that, Satan managed to glare at him and swayed drunkenly in his chair. "She's a bitch. You see what she has done to everyone and me and you know why I hate that bird."

Dr. Blowhole flashed his eyes to the screen then and started reading Amber's records. Due to Satan being drunk and Dr. Blowhole being preoccupied, the two were completely unaware that Madison had seen her colony and that she was planning on revenge for the two that had deceived her and her friends.

* * *

><p>Zero paced impatiently in the cage. "We need to get in contact with her! She is a obviously working against Satan. I know she wants revenge!" Zero told to his fellow penguins in the large cage they were forced to share.<p>

Jenny seemed crestfallen at the moment. "How are we supposed to do that?" she inquired.

Zero paused from his pacing and whirled over in her direction. "I don't know! Do you think I have all the answers?" he shouted as he threw his flippers up in the air in mock defeat. It was obvious he had the same temper Amber did. Though he might have had more control over it.

"Calm down Zero," Max ordered from across the cage to the second one. "I'm positive she'll come back. Madison wouldn't abandon us."

Elizabeth looked at Max with a spark in her eye as she held onto Danny for protection. "You really think she will?" she asked hopefully.

"We know she will," Ted and Max replied together.

Zero didn't care if Madison was or wasn't on their side, he just wanted out of the dump they were forced to stay in. "Well either way, we have to be patient I guess," the yellow eyed bird muttered and started pacing again.

Bella looked at him with scorn. "You've never been patient, what makes you think you can start now?" she inquired as she got up in his face with her natural sassy attitude she and her two other sisters shared.

Zero crossly pushed her away. "I'm known for my patience. Right?" Zero questioned everyone who was listening. All the penguins looked around awkwardly, not willing to respond to the temperamental avian. Zero sighed and shook his head. "Whatever. We just need to get to Amber."

Danny and Elizabeth shared looks. "What about Sara?" they both asked harmoniously.

"And Flora," Flora's three sisters spoke at the same time. Though they could honestly care less for their little sister.

"You can't forget about my sister," Jake squeaked with eyes that were dilated from the lack of sun he so badly needed for growth.

Zero shook his head. These penguins were hopeless. Where were the girls when you needed them?

* * *

><p>"You're serious?" Sara whispered disbelievingly.<p>

Amber had just told them that if they made it out of here alive that they would go their separate ways. Or Amber will at least leave her team. That was a big shock to the two. Thankfully, all the boys were knocked out cold from lack of sleep. They had been staying up for hours just to think of a way out of their prison cell.

"Yes. It's best if we did," Amber told her grudgingly. "If I hadn't done what I did years ago, we wouldn't be in this mess."

Flora eyed her leader sadly. "I would be dead if you hadn't," she admitted and looked at her fondly.

"Me too," Sara added.

Flora shook her head as a memory came back. "And what about what you said?" The female scientist inquired with a hint of bitterness in her tone. "No matter what happens, Blowhole wouldn't break us and we'd stick together!" She looked at Amber carefully which her leader returned. "Don't be like that and go back on your word."

Amber shook her head. "I don't always listen to what I say. I just expect _you_ to listen." The silver bird smiled grimly.

"That's not right," Sara murmured, looking rather confused. "Why say them at all if you won't even listen to yourself! Why can't you just listen to yourself for once and realize how you are hurting others!"

"Easier said then done. That's my explanation," Amber grumbled. She actually felt a pain in her chest from Sara's words. Did she honestly hurt her friends or anybody with what she said? Was she _that_ bad?

Flora replaced her bitter attitude with sympathy. "Amber please. It'll be fine," she reassured.

"How do you know?" Amber snapped harshly.

Flora was slightly taken back at that. "It's going to be ok," she told her slowly and swallowed from her thirst. "I'm sure we will make it out of here."

Amber looked away from her remaining teammates. They didn't understand. She felt her eyelids drop from lack of sleep. It has been at least three days since they had eaten or had any fluids, and two of those days she hadn't slept. She wasn't even sure when it was night or day. But it didn't matter anymore. She closed her eyes and almost instantly fell asleep.

When Sara was sure that Amber was fast asleep, she got Flora's attention. "Hey Flora," she whispered.

"Yes?" Flora acknowledged depressingly.

"What's wrong with Amber?" Sara asked with wide eyes.

Flora stared at her for a moment. Sara was the picture of innocence. Oblivious to most of the bad things in the world. Well that's what Flora thought. Sara was too innocent and naïve for her own good. "She's…" Flora hesitated. "Finally cracking up a bit."

"But she never cracks!" Sara protested, forgetting everyone but them was asleep. "What makes you think that?" she inquired.

Flora's eyes shined with sympathy for her CO. "She's been a bit edgy lately and her attitude has been making some changes," she responded truthfully.

Sara looked thoughtful for a moment. "Well...when did this start anyway then?"

Flora looked back at her memories and responded, "I think after she found out our families were dead is when she started to lose it."

"What could have been her breaking point?" Sara asked, hoping Flora had an idea.

"I think when Madison betrayed us was her breaking point," Flora told her thoughtfully. "I think that just sent her over the edge."

"Amber doesn't deserve this," Sara muttered sadly.

"No body deserves this," Flora corrected. "I just wish I knew what sick game Satan and Dr. Blowhole are conspiring. And even though she betrayed us, I hope Madison is okay."

Sara whispered, "Me too."

* * *

><p><strong>Gave you another look on their family. At least showed you more of their family members. Also why they picked Madison to be their pawn in their plans. I hope you liked the chapter! Opinion requested! Please review or I'll lose my sanity.<strong>

**Amber: I thought you lost it years ago.**

**Skipper: Me too.**

**Me: You know nothing!**

**Flora: You didn't deny the statement.**

**Amber: Then it must be true!**

**Me: Growl… **

**Rico: Review!**

**Madison: *Raises knives up to the screen and twirls them around* Muhahaha!**


	8. Attempt At Escape

Inside two cages were the hundred colony penguins. The girl's family and their colony neighbors. They were all listening intently onto a specific penguin.

"We got the escape plan ready," Zero announced to his fellow penguins. "Ness, I need you to come with Max and Danny to find Amber and everyone else with her. Jackie, we need you to find anything that Blowhole might have taken with us within our limited amount of time. With the assistance we got, we will all finally be free and Blowhole and Satan will be dead!"

All the penguins cheered at the speech. They were going to be free after months in their little prison. They were rarely given any food and haven't seen the sunlight in a long time, not to mention the night sky. There was no fresh air, so that was another thing to look forward too. They were excited with the plan to go into action.

"We need to make sure that they're dead," Zero told them when everyone calmed down. "If they survive, it would only spell trouble for us."

"What about Madison? Isn't she with them?" Elizabeth asked with wide eyes.

Zero waved her off, "Don't worry about her."

"Now who's going to come with you to do the job?" Ted asked Zero.

"Um, how about… Terra?" he suggested hesitantly. He immediately regretted it. _Why did I pick her?_

Terra looked at him with her regular sassy attitude. "I'm only going if my sisters come with me!"

Zero growled in Spanish, "Freaking perra, es mejor que lo cierre!" Most of the penguins didn't know what he had said but the ones that did were laughing at Terra's expense. "Fine!" The Yellow-eyed penguin threw his flippers up. "Do what you want, I don't care!"

"So, how do we get out of here again?" Danny asked.

The door to their prison room was suddenly opened and Zero said with smugness, "I know what I'm doing."

**(An Hour Later)**

"I'm telling you, if we can find a self destruct button we can get out of here!" Amber told Flora.

Flora shook her head, looking unsure but discouraging Amber's every idea. "But that may lead to our destruction," she reasoned. "What if we didn't make it out in time or if the time limit wasn't enough? There might not even be a time limit and the button is on Blowhole's segway! We would be dead!"

Amber glared down at the ground. "Good point…" she grumbled. Her confidence was deteriorating every second along with her hopes that she would remain leader but this was only discouraging her. It wasn't helping with her ideas being shot down and all.

"We need a well thought out plan," Kowalski jumped into the conversation. "We have to think of every detail, calculate every move."

Skipper didn't seem any more confident then anyone else was but kept his air of authority. "We can't do much without weapons," he sighed.

"And every time Rico hacks up something, it's just another thing for Blowhole to take," Amber added. So far Blowhole's claws had taken: four sticks of dynamite with each fuse being blown out, a chainsaw, a whacking stick and a rock. Why Rico had a rock in his stomach was beyond her.

"Well can't we-" Skipper stopped when the only metal door in the room opened. The girl penguins gasped in surprise. There stood Max, Danny and Ness.

"I told you it was this one!" Danny stated triumphantly. The other two penguins rolled there eyes.

Sara was utterly surprised but thrilled. "Danny?" the young bird squealed. She thought he was dead!

Amber's features twisted with disbelief with this turn of events. "Max, Ness?" she tilted her head, fairly surprised. Wasn't he and Ness supposed to be dead? "Is that you guys?" the silver avian inquired with confusion and surprise.

"Yeah it's us," Max told them briskly. "Glad to see all of you girls but c'mon we got to go."

"We can't exactly go," Flora grumbled. "We're stuck."

"Not for long." Ness smirked. He pulled at a small rectangular radio and pushed a button on it. "Alright, let's get this show on the road."

* * *

><p>"<em>Alright, let's get this show on the road."<em>

"You heard the penguin, lets go," Zero whispered. The bold penguin jumped out of a room with three others. Jenny, Bella, Terra; Flora's sisters. "Remind me again why I had picked you three to come with me?"

Jenny blinked her eyes at him and leaned toward him like a flirt. "Because you care," she told him, tilting her head to try and look adorable.

"If you want to call it that," Zero growled and pushed her aside. He started running down the hallway in pursuit of Satan and/or Blowhole with Flora's sisters not too far behind him. "We just got to find those guys and destroy them so they won't hurt anyone ever again." He swiftly turned around a corner with the sisters stumbling and clumsily chasing after him. That was at least one thing they had in common with Flora at this point. Their clumsiness.

Bella seemed to get more annoyed by every second. "This is stupid!" she shouted.

"Just shut up and follow me!" Zero stopped abruptly as he came into a metal door. "This is-" he was cut off as Bella was thrown at him with Jenny and Terra tumbling onto him next, "-it."

"Look at that door," Jenny gasped.

"It's so big," Bella stated the obvious.

Zero rolled his eyes. "How on earth are you three related to Flora?" he pushed the girls off of him and slowly approached the door. He raised his foot and smashed it against the metal. The door was sent flying into the room, which resulted in three yelps of surprise.

Zero stepped in and took in the sight. Blowhole, Satan and Madison were hanging around multiple monitors that were showing different parts of Blowhole's HQ. Satan smirked when he saw the room where Amber and her team were. He could see Max, Danny and Ness in there as well. He seemed smug after seeing Zero and the three females behind him, like they couldn't possibly beat him.

"Who was watching the monitors?" Dr. Blowhole questioned angrily. The two evil masterminds looked at Madison. She shrugged, but Zero could see the slight upward turn at the corners of her beak.

"Alright now, I'm going to be simple with this…ATTACK!" Zero shouted. He jumped at Satan with the triplets jumping onto Blowhole. Madison just stood by, amusement completely written on her face as she inched over to the monitor. She pressed a couple of keys and pressed 'Enter' just in time to look back up at Blowhole, who was giving her orders.

"Don't just stand there, do something!" the dolphin shouted at her.

Madison smiled wickedly and tackled one of Flora's sisters. Oh how she always wanted to do that.

* * *

><p>Ness stared up at Skipper, Kowalski, Rico and Private suspiciously with them doing the same. "So who are these guys?" Ness asked.<p>

Amber seemed amused despite their situation. "Some friends," she responded.

Skipper gazed at Amber. "And who are these three?" he asked her with a raised brow and pointed a flipper to the three penguins.

"Names Ness," Ness told them.

"Danny is my name." Danny smiled politely.

"I'm Max," the large bird introduced. He looked around, irritated, and tapped his foot impatiently. "What's taking them?"

Flora tilted her head to the side, confused by what he meant. "Excuse me?" she asked.

Max still seemed irritated when he answered, "We're basically waiting for this place to blow and get out of here."

"What?" Private yelped.

Ness looked at Private. "This place is going to have a nuclear power meltdown," he explained.

Sara cocked her head in a confused manner. "What?"

"Ka-boom," Rico grunted.

Just as he said that, the room was lit up with a flashing red light and the speakers started going off. "**SELF DESTRUCTION IN TEN MINUTES! SELF DESTRUCTION IN TEN MINUTES!"**

"How are we-" Sara was cut off in mid scream as the braces over their feet and flippers disappeared. She shrieked as they fell onto the floor. Even in a situation like this, it didn't stop the laughter erupting from Max's beak.

Amber looked up and glared at him. "You are definitely Madison's brother!" she shouted over the loud speaker.

Max stopped in his laughter as the cage that was holding the male penguins crashed down. Their yelps of surprise and terror went over the blaring sound of the alarm. The cage crashed to the ground and was broken and crushed in the process of the impact from the highly thick metal ground.

"Kowalski!" Flora shouted in fear of his condition. She stumbled over to the pile, not use to waddling at the time, and did her best to move pieces of the completely crushed cage away so she could find him.

"They need to work on their cage construction…" Amber muttered under her breath and ran over to Flora to assist her. "That's not how you do it. You do it like this!" Amber practically ripped the piece's away as she dug her flippers in and was getting much more progress then Flora had. The silver avian was relieved when she found Skipper. She parted the steel bars and helped Skipper out. "Good, I thought you were dead," she chuckled.

Skipper seemed amused by this. "It would take a lot more then that to bring me down." He chuckled along also.

"Will you two stop flirting and help us out!" Ness shouted over the loud sounds echoing in the room.

Skipper and Amber blushed furiously under their feathers. "We're not flirting!" the two both shouted at the snickering penguin. They joined the other flightless birds to find the other hidden penguins'.

"Kowalski," Flora sighed, relived, when she found him. She shifted some of the metal away, so he could stand. He immediately hugged Flora and held her tightly in his flippers. Flora happily returned the gesture. Kowalski sighed happily as she nuzzled his neck feathers, despite everything going on around them at the moment.

"Are you alright?" Kowalski asked, concerned.

"Shouldn't it be the other way around?" Flora laughed, making Kowalski smile nervously. "But I'm much better knowing that you're alright."

"I'm glad you're okay," Kowalski told her with care. He smiled and brushed his beak against her in a nuzzle, which she happily returned.

Danny looked down at his cousin, still moving the pieces of metal away. "Are they together?" he asked Sara.

"Yes," Sara quickly replied as she desperately tried to find Private. There was a small whimper nearby, making the young bird rush in that direction and haul some metal away. She squealed when she found him underneath. "Private!" She yanked him from the pile of metal and grinned when Private gave her a large hug. "I'm so glad your okay!" the young female avian cried out.

"Don't leave ever again!" Private cried also. The two hugged each other tighter if it was possible.

"I won't, I promise," Sara pledged.

Danny raised a brow watching them. _Sara has found someone…wow, didn't see that coming, _he thought.

"I seriously can't find Rico!" Amber shouted to the penguins, the alarm still cursing their hearing.

"Wait a second," Skipper pondered thoughtfully. "Rico! Wherever you are, cough up a stick man!"

Only few seconds passed before a large explosion came from the middle of the wreck. Once the smoke from the explosion cleared up, Rico took its place. "Woo hoo! Ha-ha!" The maniac fist pumped his flippers and started doing a little dance. "Booyah! Again, again!"

Skipper smirked. "That's Rico."

"**SELF DESTRUCTION IN SEVEN MINUTES! SELF DESTRUCTION IN SEVEN MINUTES!"**

"Let's get out of here!" Amber ordered.

They wasted no time in running the hell out of there.

* * *

><p>"We need the escape pod!" Blowhole told Satan. The two were both struggling to shake off the penguins attacking them at the moment. Madison was standing by again and was still amused by the events. Everybody ignored the ticking timer of the self destruction but the villains.<p>

Blowhole was finally able to throw the three female penguins at the wall. Blowhole quickly assisted Satan and knocked Zero over with his segway. "We must leave now," Blowhole told him. Satan nodded, and the two quickly started out the door to find an escape route.

Satan turned to Madison. "You coming or what?" he barked. Madison shook her head and faced the four penguins in front of her. She got a mischievous glint in her eyes and cracked her neck.

Not wasting a second more, Satan quickly ran and got ahead of Blowhole and got in the escape pod and pressed the button before Blowhole could get in. Satan waved a flipper and was shot out of the headquarters while Blowhole cursed. The mad dolphin shoved lobsters aside and went in the last escape pod, not allowing anymore crustaceans inside and tried to press the buttons which weren't working, only frustrating him and affecting his survival chances.

All the while, Zero allowed the two to escape and faced Madison. "You ready for this?" he questioned.

Madison only chuckled darkly.

* * *

><p>"A dead end. Perfect," Amber grumbled.<p>

The penguins stood in front of a dead end in one of the many tunnels in Blowhole's HQ. Their feet were constantly switching from the metal floor, which was getting hotter by the core that was activated to self destruct. Now Amber regretted not having a map of the accursed place. Not that one was even made from her knowledge.

"**SELF DESTRUCTION IN FIVE MINUTES! SELF DESTRUCTION IN FIVE MINUTES!"**

"We don't have time. Rico!" Skipper shouted at his weapons expert.

The psychopath instinctively hacked up a stick of dynamite.

Kowalski and Flora waved their flippers frantically. "No that might-!" Both were cut off as the dynamite blew up in their faces.

"It might what?" Amber questioned, blinking away dust that resulted from the explosion.

"That!" Kowalski yelped as shards of metal started collapsing all around. "Look out!"

Sara and Private screamed in fear and did their best to dodge a couple of large pieces of metal. Amber didn't react quickly enough and was soon under pounds of hot metal. She howled in pain and thought she could hear a couple of cracking sounds from her bones. She struggled under the metal but couldn't manage to free herself.

"Amber, I'll help you!" Sara started her way over, but Amber stopped her.

"No, get out of here!" the silver avian growled as she continued to struggle and attempt to get out from under the metal. She did her best to point to a large gaping hole that led to the outside world, making a gesture for Sara to run out there.

"But Amber-" the young bird tried to argue but Amber wouldn't have it and yelled, "No get out of here!"

"We're not leaving you!" Flora tried to get to Amber as well but it was all in vain because of Amber's stubborn attitude.

"I don't care, just go. I'll be fine!" Amber reassured and struggled from the metal.

"But-" Flora tried to argue but Amber was sick of it and ordered, "No! As your commanding officer, I order you to go and take everyone with you!"

"Amber please-" Flora pleaded desperately. She didn't want to lose her closest friend.

The CO felt her eye twitch. "Stop it Flora! Just go! Right now! Don't disobey my orders," Amber ordered sternly but softer so it might get the message to the second in charge.

By this point Flora had tears threatening to come down from her eyes. She reluctantly pushed a crying Sara to the exit. The other penguins slowly and reluctantly followed also, knowing Amber wouldn't let them help her either.

"**SELF DESTRUCTION IN FOUR MINUTES! SELF DESTRUCTION IN FOUR MINUTES!"**

"Amber…" Sara choked on her sobs. She didn't want her leader to die. Not like this or ever in her lifetime.

"Run! You don't have much time!" Amber grunted and continued to fight her way out of the metal, which wasn't proving to help her condition. There wasn't any progress and her death seemed to be in place for her. The penguins ran out of the exit, and they couldn't help but glance at Amber, who was so close to outside and freedom.

The penguins all hissed in discomfort as sunlight came into their eyes. It was nice to feel the suns warmth again and breathe in the fresh air but the light was blinding. Flora and Sara got dizzy as they tried to get a safe distance away from the soon to be exploding HQ. Then suddenly, they collapsed onto the ground.

"Sara!" Private quickly ran over to the fallen penguin and picked her up while Kowalski did the same with Flora.

The intellectual looked at Flora worriedly in his grasp. They were very dehydrated and required food. They would probably die soon if they didn't get any into their system. It was just then Kowalski noticed something. "Where's Skipper?" the scientist asked.

* * *

><p>"Get-" Amber try's to pull her self out of the metal. "-Out-" she pulls again. "Here!" Amber gasps and finally stops, giving up from being too dehydrated. The heat wasn't helping either. She cringed when another lose board of sharp metal clashed to the ground.<p>

"I'm not leaving without you," Skipper told her sternly with an air of stubbornness. He waddled up to her and began pulling her out. Although he wasn't having any more success then what she had from earlier.

"Skipper, just get out of here. I care a lot about you, and I can't have you dead," Amber said softly but commanding. "You mean a lot."

Skipper stopped pulling and looked at her. "Wait, what?" he asked.

"Just get out of here while you still have a chance!" Amber shouted, refusing to answer in any other way.

Skipper shook his head stubbornly. "I'm not leaving unless you're with me."

Amber glared as she inquired, "Why are you so determined to get me out of here? After all we did, why?" Skipper didn't answer her and continued to try to pull her out.

"**SELF DESTRUCTION IN TWO MINUTES! SELF DESTRUCTION IN TWO MINUTES!"**

The alarm had stopped minutes ago and was only left with a blinking red light and the loud countdown.

"You're going to die if you don't leave now." Amber hardened her glare, wanting to penetrate his stubborn actions.

"I'm not leaving," Skipper grunted and kept pulling, which was making her bleed from the sharp edges.

"I'll be fine, just leave me here. It'll be ok," Amber reassured with a cringe, trying to resist every cut she received from the metal. "Someone needs to take care of my team when I'm gone."

Skipper stared at her. "No matter what you say, I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here till you're free."

Amber faintly smiled at that, but she was still rather angry with everything he was doing by just risking his life. She continued to stare at him helplessly when he continued to try and pull her out. But something caught her attention. Another lose hot, sharp metal plate was dangling around. Her eyes widened as it finally snapped and started falling right at Skipper.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm not responsible for the Penguins of Madagascar breaking your property. Some of the penguins are just extras, so don't worry about them. Like Ness!<strong>

**This was a cheesy chapter, I know. I also know this isn't my best story, and I could be doing better, so I apologize. I also found out that Rico blew up my wall again. -_-**

**Rico: Kablamo!**

**Me: Stop blowing up my walls! I'm getting tired of fixin' them!**

**Rico: Ka-boom, ka-boom, ka-boom!**

**Me: I'm getting worried about him. Anyway, please review!**


	9. Freedom

"Skipper, watch out!" Amber shouted.

The flat-headed bird looked up but, by how fast the sharp shard of metal was coming down, he wouldn't make it. He clenched his eyes shut and held onto Amber tightly, staring at her mournfully. Wanting nothing more but to die holding her and being the last thing he ever saw.

She was startled when Skipper was suddenly thrown away from her and the metal plate landed right in front of her a millisecond later. She just stared at her reflection in the smooth metal that would have cut Skipper in two. She slowly turned her head, still in shock, and looked at where Skipper had been thrown over too. Her eyes widened even more, if it was possible, because in front of her were Zero and Skipper.

"Zero?" Amber gaped.

Said penguin looked up at her and smirked. "This your new boyfriend or something, sis?" Zero teased and chuckled.

Ambers surprise and shock was washed away by her anger and embarrassment. Her face turned a bright shade of red underneath her feathers. "He's not my boyfriend! And aren't you supposed to be dead?"

Zero was about to say something, but he snapped his beak shut when a large amount of penguins started coming down the hallway.

"Sweet mother oh crud," Amber muttered. She shielded her face from the panicked and frantic stomping of webbed feet. She cracked her eye open enough to realize that these were the colony penguins. _They are all alive! s_he thought in surprised relief. Her conscious started to fall in brief peace.

She was able to recognize some of them like: May, Jackson, Daniel and many others. They ran past her like a full blown army. She watched as the final penguins' came down the hall. They had completely ignored her, Zero and Skipper throughout, being too concerned about themselves.

Once they all disappeared, Zero made a move to speak again. "We'll talk later; we got to get you out of here." He got off of the dazed Skipper and went to help Amber out before it was too late. He started to attempt to lift the metal but it wasn't much use. "This won't move," he grunted.

"Here," Skipper grunted and joined Zero. It didn't give much of an effect but a slight shift that only hurt Amber more. She cringed at the pain.

"We're here! No need to panic!" a voice shouted down the hallway. Amber turned her head slowly and was able to make out four penguins. She grimaced when she identified Bella, Jenny and Terra, but she was shocked when she saw Madison, who carrying a rather large white sack with her.

"What are you doing here?" Amber hissed.

"Trying to save your life, duh." Bella rolled her eyes.

Amber ignored her tone and tried to rip herself out of the metal as the other four penguins came over to help lift it up. Amber smirked when the metal was slowly lifted up with their combined strength. "Need some help here, Skipper," she told the leader penguin.

Skipper stopped pulling up the metal for a second and took Amber's flippers in his. He gave a powerful tug, and Amber popped out of the metal just as it crashed back down. The unfortunate sight of some left over feathers and blood made Skipper cringe. This only added to his rising concern for the silver penguin.

"**SELF DESTRUCTION IN ONE MINUTE! SELF DESTRUCTION IN ONE MINUTE!"**

But then again, there were more pressing matters.

"Let's get out of here!" Zero shouted and ran out of the HQ from the giant hole Rico's dynamite had made earlier. Bella, Jenny and Terra not far behind. Madison, Amber and Skipper stayed behind, however.

Amber had finally fallen unconscious, which was a problem now. Madison grunted and nudged a rather dazed Skipper. His head snapped around, and he glared at Madison. "Traitor!" he shouted accusingly.

She rolled her eyes and put the sack in-between her beak. She grabbed Amber and Skipper's flippers and started hauling them outside. Skipper caught on and started running by her side. He managed to grab Amber from the mute avian and held her in his flippers. He wanted to keep an eye on her and avoid Madison from handling her in fear that she might try something that would harm her.

The two penguins continued to run for their lives, hoping to get out of range of the soon coming explosion. They ran quickly and, before they knew it, they had ran a mile. They approached a large boulder, where they could here multiple voices were coming from. They reached the boulder and veered around it to see what was behind.

It was the colony penguins, his team and more. At least a hundred flightless birds were there. Skipper surveyed the large crowd, panting heavily. A large amount of the penguins he couldn't identify but some were familiar to him. Zero, Max, Ness, Danny and of course his team, along with Flora and Sara hanging around close by.

Skipper looked at the penguins nearest to him and was thankful it was his own team. Kowalski, Private and Rico saw him and got relieved expressions to see him safe. He strode over to them and carefully sat Amber next to Flora and Sara, who were still out cold.

Kowalski relaxed when Skipper approached. "There you are," he sighed, relieved.

Private looked at Skipper and hugged him. "We thought you two were goners…" the young bird whimpered.

"So, when do you think the place is gunna-" Zero started to say but was finished by Rico. "KABOOM!" the maniac shouted excitedly. "Yeah that," the Yellow-eyed penguin said, unfazed.

"We just have to wait," Kowalski murmured.

With those words, those quiet words, everyone fell silent and watched the HQ, waiting. They waited. And waited. And waited. Well you would think that a HQ that had less then a minute before exploding would happen real fast, right? It felt like forever to them. It felt like hours before the adrenaline pumping sensation of the explosion went off.

It was like it was in slow motion.

The HQ was engulfed in flames and, a millisecond after; it sent a powerful wave of sound and extreme damage toward them. It was like a sonic boom that would not only hurt your ears but rip you apart but it was far much worse. Much, much worse. The HQ turned into a large nuclear mushroom. Thousands and thousands meters high, looking like it was touching the stars. The heat of it was terrible. It would kill you if you were close enough, but the penguins were at least at a miles distance. The explosion was still felt and it was hurting them terribly. The penguins thought they would never hear again. Their eardrums were ringing in their heads. The unconscious penguins were spared at the time. Their hunger and lack of water made it impossible to wake them. Which at the time was a good thing.

The nuclear mushroom was still a spectacular sight. An array of so many different colors. Reds, oranges, yellows, blues, greens and even purple! It was beautiful and horrifying at the same time. The heat of the mushroom slowly evaporated. The mushroom itself slowly disappeared and left only ash covered grounds. The HQ was completely destroyed and there was no doubt that most of the lobsters had perished in the explosion, but they didn't know if Blowhole and Satan had the same fate. They didn't see them escape and, if they were close enough, they would have been destroyed. But they could care less if they died. For what they did was unforgivable.

All around them, ash came down like rain. It was minutes of silence after the explosion had long died, before someone spoke and broke the unbearable silence they had been in since they waited for the explosion.

"Whoa…" Rico could only say that to explain the rush, excitement and the awesome, destructive explosion. And yet…that was enough.

"That was…wow," a colony penguin murmured.

Madison let out an impressed whistle. It was at that time that all the penguins acknowledged her presence. They turned toward her and the air became tense. Madison started to get uncomfortable and took a step forward to her _friends_. That was a mistake on her part.

"Not any closer! You're a traitor!" Skipper pointed an accusing flipper at her. She froze in her position and looked at Zero for help.

He nodded and stepped up in front of her, ready to defend her actions. "Look, she's not a traitor alright?" Zero told them.

"Really?" Skipper snarled disbelievingly. "She joined Blowhole! She left us there to die!"

Zero rolled his eyes. "No, she helped you guys. She pressed the self destruct button, cage release button and the shackle release button, so you guys could escape," he explained.

Skipper eyed him skeptically. "How would you know this?" he asked.

"She freed us," Zero explained slowly, like one would to a small child. It was obvious he was annoyed. "And betrayed Dr. Blowhole and Satan when she found out that we were still alive."

"How?" a voice croaked out. Skipper whirled around and, there in front of him, was Amber who actually appeared very weak all of sudden. "I thought you were betraying us."

Madison hesitantly waddled to her leader, pushing Skipper aside, still holding that large white sack of hers. For once, she seemed rather timid. She looked nervous, like Amber was going to slap the crud out of her, which was something no one wanted of course.

Madison stood in front of her exhausted leader and bravely shook her head. She never really _intended_ to betray her friends. Sure, she wanted freedom, but even she knew she didn't have the brains to help free them. She just needed a little help. And Zero was that kind of help.

Amber sighed. "Look, I don't really forgive, but you're still part of my team, so I guess…you're forgiven."

"I knew it," Sara muttered groggily. She had woken up, and Flora had as well. She got up, with her leaders help, and smiled at Madison. "I knew you wouldn't betray us." Sara had always kept her faith in Madison, even if she didn't show it.

Madison, despite everything that had happened, smiled warmly at the young penguin. At least one penguin had believed in her. Even if that hope was close to being crushed to pieces, she was thankful that Sara held onto the belief that she never betrayed them. She hugged her tightly with a tear trailing down her cheek. Sara returned the hug weakly, happy to have Madison back, who was very much like a sister to her.

"So you were never really going to betray us?" Flora asked, her voice getting hoarse from lack of water. Madison nodded quickly. The dehydrated second in charge was suddenly filled with anger. "You know how hungry we were? That doesn't excuse your actions of just abandoning us there!"

She frowned when her friend's stomachs rumbled loudly, as if to emphasize Flora's point. Madison opened up her sack and opened it to show a pile of fish. Her friends didn't hesitate and dug into fish without any questions. Except one penguin. Rico. The two just stared at each other.

It took all but a moment for the two to realize that the whole colony was watching them.

"LEAVE!" Rico's voice boomed against the crowd.

Everyone stared at the psychotic penguin, wide eyed at the sudden hostility. The colony didn't bother questioning it and went deeper into the forest of Coney Island. Their voices finally arose and they started talking to themselves again with Zero leading everyone out. All the remained were the two teams of penguins.

Rico turned back to Madison and was rather surprised when she was suddenly next to him. They stared at each other with their belly feathers brushing together gently. The other penguins decided to ignore them and continued gorging themselves with fish.

Madison then gave the psychopath an apologetic look, Rico gaining a thoughtful one in the process. Madison sighed at this. She looked at the ground but instead found the slightly noticeable scar on her chest she had gotten many months ago. She shivered at the memories of glass bottles battering against her body. Suddenly, her memories came back to her. All involving Rico. The time he showed her firecrackers, the many times she hugged him and…that wonderful first kiss of hers. It was the best moment of her life by far. It was the first and so far the only time she had kissed him, surprisingly.

She slowly raised her head back up and stared at Rico's eyes. She just couldn't get over those eyes. Or his mohawk. The two continued to stare at each others eyes. Madison wanted to end the silence and awkward tension. Now. She leaned in and pressed her beak against Rico's roughly. Just like their first kiss, Rico was caught off guard, just like last time, but he smiled through the kiss and happily returned it.

Rico wrapped a single flipper around her waist and one on the back of her head for a much deeper kiss. Madison placed her flippers around the back of his neck and then the two were at full bliss and forgiveness once again.

The other penguins knew what was going on but decided to ignore it and talk to themselves while Rico and Madison enjoyed each others company.

Amber licked her beak but she was still unsatisfied with her thirst, which she and everyone who had been captured needed. "I'm glad to be out of there. It sucked like hell," the silver avian said after she swallowed another fish. _But I've been through worse._

Sara shivered and curled up into a ball. "I hope it never happens again," she whimpered.

"Don't worry Sara, it wont," Private reassured.

Amber scowled slightly. That was the third time she had been captured. There are no limits to how many times it might happen to Sara or anyone else.

"I hope it doesn't," Sara sighed. She looked at her leader in the eyes. There was some emotion on them like…depression. Realization hit her hard. Her heart sank when she remembered that Amber was going to leave them. "You're…still not leaving are you?" she asked hesitantly, afraid of the answer.

Amber winced but composed herself. Sara had to bring it up now. "Well-" Amber was abruptly cut off by Sara herself.

The young bird threw herself onto Amber and gave her a death hug. "Please don't!" Sara cried. "We would never be the same without you!" Amber looked around awkwardly at the penguins watching her. Even Rico and Madison stopped kissing to look at them.

"Look, can we handle this later?" Amber asked quietly to Sara.

Sara looked up and faintly scared Amber with the pure fury and anger in her eyes. "You can't just leave! We've been through so much together!" she wailed. Then she added more quietly, "Why do you need to go anyway? Your past doesn't change anything, the present is what counts."

Amber's eyes softened. Those were wise words, considering it was coming from Sara's beak. "I…I…" she swallowed. She was a lose for words. It felt extremely awkward for her. Everyone was watching with pure interest and anticipation. Amber sighed in defeat. "I guess I'll stay." Sara smiled and gave a harder hug. "Sara stop!" Amber gasped. "I can't breathe!"

Sara immediately let go, which Amber took a large gulp of air. She looked up at her leader sheepishly and murmured, "Sorry…" Amber flattened the ruffled up feathers on her chest and just grumbled to herself but amusement shined in her eyes, as it often did with Sara's actions.

"I'm glad you're staying." Flora smiled. Madison grunted in agreement and nuzzled Rico's neck feathers.

"Yeah, yeah whatever." Amber smirked. "I'm going for a walk," she announced. The silver bird got up, leaving the other penguins behind. Or so she thought. When she entered the large forest of Coney Island, she had only taken a few steps before Skipper was at her side. "Sweet salmon!" Amber screamed in surprise and slapped him. Skipper's face was red from where she had slapped him, and he was rubbing the painful spot.

"What was that for?" Skipper shouted, a bit shocked.

Amber didn't seem to want to apologize and simply decided to justify her actions. "You surprised me. I don't do surprises! They scare the crud out of me," she answered, looking flustered again.

"Well you could have told me that!" he glared.

Amber sighed, "Well try not to do that again."

Skipper grumbled to himself but still followed Amber when she waddled off again.

They waddled around tress, rocks, rotten debris and fallen ash from the explosion in silence. It was a while before Skipper spoke up. "It's a good thing you decided to stay with your team," he told her.

Amber spared him a glance, before looking forward once more. "Well, I guess it wouldn't have been the same without them. I don't know what I was thinking. It was probably all that pressure or something."

"It wouldn't have been the same for me either." Skipper spared her a glance too. "And my team," he added quickly. His slip up went unnoticed to his silver feathered companion.

"Well…I would have missed you," Amber admitted. She was completely aware of how she worded her sentence. And she meant every part of it.

"Hey Amber!" Zero shouted from a distance. Both penguins mentally cursed in their heads.

"Later Skips," Amber chuckled, before going off to find her stepbrother. She was just able to hear Skipper complaining about that nickname before she was out of earshot.

Skipper found himself smiling slowly as he saw her retreating silver back disappear. Amber was back. And he wasn't going to let go this time.

* * *

><p>"Sorry if I was interrupting something," Zero teased, knowing she had been spending time with Skipper. Amber glared. They weren't related and were only step siblings, but they acted like family all the same. And they hated and loved it every second.<p>

Amber folded her flippers over her chest. "What do you want?" she asked in a bored tone.

"Are you going to come back to the colony with us?" Zero asked bluntly. "With Flora, Sara and Madison of course."

Amber was slightly taken back at this. The sole purpose of her mission a couple of months ago was to go back to their colony to protect them again but they weren't there, so they came back to New York. But now that they're alive and going back…what now?

The silver avian hesitated before speaking. "Look Zero…I want to go back and everything, but I just...can't," Amber told him truthfully. She expected him to be understanding, but Zero just looked enraged.

"What?" he hollered in her face.

She was glad they were alone in this part of the forest. She didn't need any spectators or more pressure to add to the situation. She had enough of that already. "I can't go with you. I can't do that to my team. They really like it in New York," Amber explained, slowly growing irritated from her stepbrother.

Zero continued to glare. "But what about us? I thought family came first!"

Amber glared at her stepbrother. "Zero, I got to keep my promises," she told him slowly. "You promised to protect us! Well you broke that promise didn't you?" Zero snapped harshly.

That snapped Amber's beak shut. She felt her rage boil high. Her temper was kicking in and you could just see it in her eyes. They were alive like the fire they were. It was just scary, but it didn't seem to intimidate Zero one bit. He was use to it.

"You think I wanted to get captured on purpose?" she screamed. "I was forced to go to New York, forced to stay there till a boat came, and I was convinced to come back and find the guy I _thought _had murdered my colony in New York! I did my best to keep my promise, and I did what I could to finish my mission and heck, I say it's completed and done!" Amber was steamed. You never questioned her responsibilities or your head would be ripped off in an instant. The only exception was her friends and family, and even then she would probably slap you.

"We need you back at Antarctica," Zero hissed and continued to press her into coming back with him. Her shouting didn't faze him one bit. Which was something that annoyed the female avian greatly.

"I need to stay in New York." Amber steamed. She took a deep breath to calm herself again. Something Sara suggested she'd do when angry or frustrated. She usually didn't do it though, which explained most of her harsh actions now that she thought about it.

In a much calmer voice she said, "Zero, you I know both know what you're capable of. Just get off the lazy butt of yours and help the colony. Teach them to fish, protect them from seals, conquer Canada, I don't care! I'm just staying in New York," Amber stated firmly.

Throughout the time she was stuck in that prison she had a lot of time to think about some things. One was that she was going to stay in New York. A second involved Skipper, but she would save that for another time. For now.

Zero stared at her. His anger seemed to vanish. Most of it at least. "You're a stubborn penguin, you know that?"

Amber smirked. "Not the first time someone's said that."

"But…you do know it's going to be tough right?" Zero inquired to her hesitantly, still trying to persuade her.

"Well you're a tough penguin." Amber poked his chest, making him scowl. "I think you can handle it. Besides you've always stayed on the sidelines, so I think its time you stepped up and take care of the colony."

"Fine," Zero growled bitterly. "In a way I respect your decision," he admitted. "But I'm still not happy about it."

Amber smiled up at him. "I expected that much. Now I'm going to find some water. My team really needs it." With that said, Amber left without another word being spoken on the subject.

* * *

><p><strong>Several Hours Later<strong>

It was getting late and dark. Every single penguin was hanging around a large clearing, lit up faintly by the full moon. They were much too exhausted to start back home or do anything for that matter. The New York penguins' had to find food and water for all the others. It was grueling work but at least they could finally rest now.

Kowalski rolled his head to Flora's direction, who was right next to him, keeping him warm with the flipper resting on his stomach. "Is this what you had to go through at Antarctica?" he asked, while laying on his back.

"Yes…" Flora groaned, cuddling up next to Kowalski to get some sleep.

"It's harder then I remembered," Sara moaned against a tree. "To you know, do everything for them cause they are so scared."

"It's because were exhausted. That's why it feels hard, but it's really like the same thing," Flora explained pointlessly but was muffled by Kowalski's feathers, since her face was buried in his chest. Kowalski placed a flipper over the back of her head and brought his beak to her forehead.

Sara cuddled up against the tree with Private a little bit off to the side of her. Madison and Rico were sleeping on a pile of leaves they collected. Rico coughed up a blanket and wrapped it around the both of them, making Madison shuffle closer to him. Everyone else was too tired to ask for any.

Then silence fell in the air once more. Slowly, everyone fell into a deep asleep. But the two commanding officers of the commando penguins' refused to fall victims to the night's wistful lullaby. The wind was blowing faintly in the trees and the comforting drum of other living animals nearby like crickets chirping and breathing.

"Skipper?" Amber turned to get his attention. Skipper hummed, signaling he was paying attention, with his eyes half closed. "Why did you try to save me? You would have left your team without a leader as well as mine, and you really had no gain in it at all. So why?"

Skipper cursed in his head. He didn't want to be asked that kind of question. Before he could stop himself, his beak opened to answer. "I don't know," he answered quietly and closed his eyes for some sleep.

"You don't know?" Amber chuckled, which irritated the stubborn penguin. She got close to him for warmth which, at this point, didn't bother either of them. Skipper wrapped his flippers around her for protection to the cold, at least that was what he told himself he was doing. "You're a mystery to me Skipper."

* * *

><p><strong>Man that was long for me. But I enjoyed typing it up. Please review.<strong>

**Kowalski: Review the chapter, please.**

**Sara: Pretty please!**

**Private: With a cherry on top!**

**Me: …**

**Amber: That's pathetic. That's not how you ask for reviews. This is how you ask for reviews.**

**Skipper: REVIEW OR I'LL SEND RICO ON YOU!**

**Rico: Muhahaha!**

**Amber: See?**

**Me: Ok…uh, review?**

**Skipper: I'm dead serious about Rico.**


	10. Saying Goodbye

"Going to miss you cousin." Danny hugged Sara, who was in his flippers along with Elizabeth.

"I'm going to miss you guys so much," Sara sniffled, tears coming down from her eyes. She hugged her two cousins even tighter.

Elizabeth looked at her cousin fondly. "Promise you wont forget us?" she asked.

"I promise. It's impossible to forget you two," Sara promised. "Just like it's impossible to forget every one else in our family…"

"Don't go thinking about your parents now." Danny wiped away the tears from Sara's eyes. "Besides you still got us."

Sara then asked an unexpected question. Probably something she should have kept to herself. "Do you two miss your parents?" she asked.

Danny and Elizabeth both stiffened. A moment went by before Elizabeth answered, "Of course we do. It's hard to imagine anyone who hated our parents."

Sara looked at the ground briefly before looking back at Danny and Elizabeth, who still had their flippers around her. "Madison hates her parents, and I don't think Amber really likes hers that much. But I think Flora is fine with her dad," Sara told them.

"Why would she hate them?" Elizabeth asked curiously.

"I rather not say…" Sara trailed off. She didn't like thinking about it much.

"Well either way, just stay safe alright? And avoid snakes. Those things are freaky!" Danny exclaimed. He hated snakes, and he wasn't the only one.

"DON'T REMIND ME! I'M SCARED TO DEATH OF THOSE THINGS!" Sara screamed. It caught the attention of many colony penguins, but Sara ignored it. "Those things are creepy…" Sara clung to Danny's feathers even tighter and Elizabeth had to squeeze out of the hug just to breathe.

"Ok, ok!" Danny gasped. "Now let me breathe!"

Sara immediately let her slackened her grip. "Sorry," she apologized sheepishly. Danny coughed, and gasped for a breath of air.

"It's alright. Just don't do that again. Man you got a good grip."

"Amber said the same thing a couple of times before…" Sara trailed off and entered her own world of flashbacks.

Elizabeth clapped in Sara's face to get her out of her daze. It worked and Sara shook herself out of daydreaming. "Will you two be ok?" Sara asked, as the concerned penguin she was she wanted to be sure before she left them.

"I'm pretty sure that Zero will protect us." Elizabeth smiled.

Danny added, "And I know we can handle it."

"Well if you're sure…" Sara sighed. "Bye then."

"Bye Sara," the two chorused. Sara gave them one last hug, before her two cousins retreated back into the mass of the other colony penguins.

"Don't worry," Private spoke up. Sara jumped and let out a startled shriek. She had no idea that had Private been right behind her. "Sorry Sara. I didn't mean to give you a fright," Private apologized with round eyes.

Sara smiled at the sight. _Private is so adorable with those eyes… _She snapped herself out of her state and pecked Private on the cheek, which made him gain a pink tint to his cheeks. "It's alright. Please don't do that again though," Sara pleaded. "I almost had a heart attack! Oh and just in case, don't ever surprise Amber," she told him, waddling off to find her comrades.

"Wait up Sara!" Private called after her. Sara laughed and went even faster, Private at her tail feathers.

* * *

><p>Flora had been watching Sara for a tiny bit, just because she felt sorry for the young penguin. She smiled bitter sweetly at the young penguins' running around many others. <em>It must be hard for her to leave them, <em>she thought. _At least Private is there for her. _Flora turned around when something tapped her shoulder. She smiled slightly when she saw her three sisters.

"Hey Flora," the three chorused, as they often did.

"Hello," Flora greeted calmly. She was aware of the slight tension in the air. "It's…good to know you three are alive," she said awkwardly.

Jenny looked at the ground then back up. "Well...same to you," Jenny said, just as awkward.

Flora sighed before saying, "Look…I know we have our differences, but I'm still glad were family. From what Skipper told me, Amber would have died if you three hadn't came along to help, so…thanks."

"Well you're welcome," Bella snorted.

This made Flora steam a bit, but she held down her anger. Unlike Amber and Madison, she had a leash on her temper. "So…I guess this is a goodbye then?" the female scientist inquired.

Jenny rubbed the back of her head. "Suppose so," she muttered.

"Aw, who am I kidding? Come here!" Terra bounced over to Flora and gave her a squeeze. "I missed you." Flora accepted the hug with a smile. Terra was the more likeable of the three to her.

"I missed you too," Jenny admitted.

"I might have also," Bella said reluctantly. They slowly wrapped their flippers around Flora and Terra. It may have not been the most touching reunion, but it was close enough for them due to their clashes in the past.

"That's so sweet," a voice that Flora recognized immediately said.

Flora was pleasantly surprised and suppressed a squeal. "Hey Dad," she chuckled as he grinned and brightened up considerably. "I thought I'd never see you again!"

"And I thought I would never see you with another penguin." Flora's dad stepped in front of her. Just like the whole family, he had brown feathers but had blue eyes. He was rather large and bulked for a penguin. It would be easy to say they weren't related if not for the brown feathers. "So what was his name? Walski right?"

Flora blushed. "It's Kowalski," she corrected.

"So he's your boyfriend then?" her dad asked, nudging her playfully.

"Uh, I guess so." Flora shrugged. They never officially established their relationship but it might as well be a boyfriend/girlfriend thing already.

"I knew it!" her dad exclaimed, which startled her. "I knew you would find someone just for you!"

Flora felt extremely embarrassed by her father. "Please Dad, not here. You're gathering attention." The father looked around and, sure enough, he was gathering quite a bit of attention. Flora cowered behind her sisters in an attempt to escape some of the colony penguins gazes.

Bella rolled her eyes in amusement. "Chicken," she snorted.

Flora silently fumed for being called. "I am not! I don't even look like one," she protested. "I just don't like being looked at…"

Jenny looked at Flora with surprise. "You should be thankful for being looked at!" she gasped.

"Who wouldn't want to have such attention?" Terra asked with exasperation in her tone.

"Uh…me?" Flora answered uncertainly.

"There is something wrong with you," Bella said coldly.

"There isn't anything wrong with her." Flora's dad scowled at the three sisters. "At least she's well behaved. Most of the time…"

Flora slowly took steps backwards to get away from her family when she bumped into something. She let out a startled yelp and whirled around. She visibly relaxed when she realized it was just Kowalski. "Kowalski don't do that. You almost stopped my heart!"

"Sorry." Kowalski shrugged sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. "So is that your family?" Kowalski asked, clearly curious and possibly disturbed. He pointed to four arguing penguins behind her. Flora sighed and muttered, "Yes they're my family." Kowalski hummed in interest and rubbed the bottom of his beak, which made Flora become even more embarrassed from her own family.

"Hey Flora!" Flora's dad called out. She froze and kept wishing in her head that he wouldn't notice Kowalski. "Is that Kowalski?" She cursed the universe, and Sara's fairytales for wronging her.

"Is that your father?" Kowalski asked her, although he was pretty sure he was. Flora turned her head and watched her dad slowly approach them, along with her sisters that she wished would disappear.

Flora reluctantly nodded. "Yeah. Whatever you do, don't say something stupid, ok?" Flora ordered.

"Pssh." Kowalski waved his flippers. "Impossible."

That's when Flora's father came up from behind. "So is this Kowalski?" he asked.

"Yes, of course," Flora answered, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Jenny commented, "He's cute." She blinked her eyes at Kowalski, making him a bit embarrassed as he smiled nervously. Flora narrowed her eyes in jealousy.

The father of the four extended a flipper. "Nice to meet someone that's actually interested in her," he joked. Flora nudged her dad in the ribs. "Hey, I'm just joking."

Kowalski shook the larger penguin's flipper. "Nice to meet you," he greeted awkwardly. Flora mentally slapped herself.

Her dad's next works made her eyes grow large and made freeze her in place. "You two going to kiss or what?" That also made Kowalski freeze, but they both relaxed when he said, "I'm only kidding!" Flora's dad patted her back and announced, "Well, I don't want to interrupt you two. So I'll be on my way. C'mon girls, let's see if we can find Ness. He owes me some fish! I told him Flora would find a guy! I knew it!" The father continued to shout about how right he was, which made Flora's face beat red from embarrassment.

"I'm sorry Ko-" she was then spun around and facing her boyfriend.

"To be honest, I don't mind doing this…" Kowalski trailed off and planted a quick kiss on the side of her beak to make her feel better. A smile spread across his face. He had been longing to do that for a while.

Flora blushed and smiled at him. "I guess I don't mind either…" She then just kissed him on the spot. Kowalski face immediately turned into a deep shade of red, just like Flora's. But he slowly got a goofy grin on his face and kissed her back. They wrapped their flippers around each other, enjoying each others warmth and silky feathers.

The two didn't bother to notice the gazes of the colony penguins.

* * *

><p>"Please don't go." Jake stumbled over to Madison, who was just adjusting her baseball hat before her brothers came over to her. "I miss my sister…" he whimpered. The chick made his brown eyes grow big and round. An absolutely adorable picture if he didn't look so thin.<p>

Madison mentally groaned. _Why does he do that? _She remembered the last time she had saw him back in Antarctica. He still had most of his down feathers and had just recently hatched from his egg. He was just as cute then as he was now.

"Jake, don't do this to her man." Max picked up the chick and held him in his flippers. "She's gunna hang around The Big Apple now," Max explained to the hatchling. "Make sure you send us a postcard, ok?"

"And don't forget about us," Ted added. "We're just too good to be forgotten," Ted said without any sense of modesty.

Max's eyes started to well up. "I can't say goodbye. Ah man, why? I promised myself I wouldn't cry!" he cried out hysterically, making Ted and Madison smile at him. He came up to Madison and started shaking her, making little Jake dizzy as well as her. "Man, I love you sis! Don't forget to eat your vegetables!"

"Max," Ted addressed, placing his flipper behind his back. "We don't eat those."

The large penguin started petting the back of the mute penguin's head, making Madison disturbed but amused. "I'll always remember our pet fish!"

"It froze to death on the first day!"

"Don't forget us!" Max wailed hysterically, sobbing loudly, making everyone look in their direction. Ted finally dragged him away, telling him to calm down.

Madison smiled fondly at her brothers. How could she ever forget them? She turned her head to a something that sounded like footsteps. What she saw dropped her mood considerably. Her parents were coming over to her. _Great, s_he thought bitterly.

Her parents pushed the three siblings away so they were in front of the silent penguin. Max wiped away his tears and sniffed.

"Well, looks like you managed to do something right for a change," her mom stated coldly. Madison felt her eye twitch at that comment. She curled her flippers up, trying to press down her rising anger. "But you almost messed up. Not the first time I might add. Why can't you stay out of trouble?" her mother added with her dad nodding in agreement. Madison was grinding her beak at this point.

Oh how Madison wished she could defend herself. She stopped and jumped slightly when a flipper was put on her shoulder. She looked over and, to her surprise, it was Rico. He didn't seem happy at all. He was glaring at her parents coldly. No doubt that he had heard what they had said.

"Who the heck is this?" Madison's mom asked, rather disgusted.

That made her blood boil, and she would have just tackled her mom if Ted hadn't stopped her. Ted came down toward her face and whispered, "It's not worth it. Let it be." The voice of reason inside the penguin stopped her, but she had to stop Rico, who had the same intentions she had moments ago. "Who is this anyway?" Ted asked.

"Rico," the psychopath answered simply, his anger going down slowly.

"Hey, you were that penguin that blew that wall with dynamite!" Max exclaimed, remembering when Rico blew up the wall and had jumped out of the wreck with some of his dynamite also. "Dude, that was sick! How do you do that? It's like crazy magic!"

Rico slowly smiled at Max, sharing a glance with Madison. It was entertaining to see the fat penguin waving his flippers around and imitating explosions sounds and re-acting everything.

"Alright take a breath," Ted told the 'big boned' penguin. Max stopped talking and took a large gulp of air. But he continued to hold it in and started turning purple. Ted rolled his eyes. "And breathe out!" Max started panting when he finally breathed out. He gratefully said, "Thanks bro, I needed that." Ted rolled his eyes. Typical Max.

"Well, what are you doing here?" Madison's dad pointed to Rico, saying words for him were rare since Madison's mom usually did all the talking for them.

"Madison," Rico answered and wrapped a flipper around her waist. This only earned confused looks from some the aquatic birds.

"What do you want with her?" Madison's mom asked, looking rather repulsed.

"She's mine," Rico grunted, tightening his grip around Madison and giving her mom an angered look.

Jake squeaked, "What do you mean by that?" Jake, being his age, was oblivious to it.

"Mine," Rico repeated and planted a quick kiss on the side of her beak. It made Madison get red from embarrassment, which made Rico chuckle lowly.

This brought many different reactions from the penguins. Jake was still confused, Ted was surprised, Max was barking out in laughter and the parents were just disgusted.

"I can't believe you want to waste your time with that...thing…" the mom muttered. Whether they were implying Rico or Madison was unknown. The two parents walked away after that.

Madison turned her head Rico and smiled widely at him. Rico did the same and wrapped another flipper around her waist. Madison wrapped both of her flippers around him, and they both hugged each other.

She was thankful he had helped her out but getting rid of her parents and he seemed to understand that as well. Who needed family when you had a psychopath for a boyfriend?

* * *

><p>Amber smirked at her stepbrother, their earlier argument forgotten. "Going to miss you Zero." She patted Zero's back fondly.<p>

"Just don't get into any trouble. I know how you are," Zero chuckled.

Amber frowned. "I'm not the only one who gets into trouble. Take good care of the colony or else whatever happens is on your head," she said sternly.

Zero waved her off. "I can take care of everything," he assured. With that said, he walked off to gather everyone up for their departure.

Amber smirked when a couple of familiar faces came up. Her stepsisters. "Galena and Nalani!" She waved them over.

"Hey sis," Galena greeted sadly, knowing they were going to have to separate soon once again. She had a large scar on her back, ebony feathers with a white belly and green eyes.

"Hi Amber." Nalani waved. Part of her beak was chipped off; she had a noticeable scar on her chest that formed a X. She had ebony feathers and a white belly and green eyes also.

"We saw you with…what's his face…" Nalani trailed off, trying to remember which penguin she was talking about.

Galena looked at her sister. "I think I heard his name was Skipper," she told her step sister.

Nalani brightened as she remembered. "Oh yes! That was his name," she exclaimed and smiled at Amber slyly. "So you two dating or something?"

Amber groaned. Not this again… "No, we're not dating! Why does everyone keep asking me that?" she questioned, clearly aggravated.

Nalani and Galena shared knowing glances and looked back at the irritated silver penguin. "Maybe because you two look cute together," Nalani suggested.

"That and a couple of penguins have seen you two all close up. You two practically flirt with each other!" Galena exclaimed.

Amber glared at her stepsisters. "We don't flirt," she growled, faintly wondering if she and Skipper did.

Galena shook her head while rolling her eyes and looked at Amber, square in the eye. "Yes you do."

"We don't flirt, case closed. Now bye!" Amber dismissed them by shoving them away, so she wouldn't have to deal with them anymore. The two went off snickering. Amber rolled her eyes, but they caught something. Her two other stepbrothers were coming up to her, who she honestly didn't want to see.

The first one had yellow eyes like Zero and ebony feathers. The second one had blue eyes and, just like all the other penguins, he had ebony colored feathers. Unlike the girls, they didn't have any noticeable damage on them.

"Hey Pedro," Amber greeted to the yellow eyed penguin. "Sup Ian," she greeted also to the blue eyed avian.

Pedro looked at her with affection and hugged her tightly. "Más tarde, hermanita. Nos veremos algún día de nuevo," he said confidently in Spanish. Ian and Amber were able to understand what their stepbrother said.

"I know we will," Ian added.

Amber shook her head "We might come around to make sure Zero doesn't destroy you all!" she joked.

Ian laughed lightly, "We'll see."

Pedro looked at Ian, confused, since he was unable to tell what they said. "No lo entiendo," he told them. Ian repeated what Amber had said in Spanish and when he was finished, Pedro seemed amused as he had been. "Cero defendería las colonias de pingüinos de todos modos," Pedro chuckled.

"Don't underestimate, no matter how small the threat!" Amber pointed her flipper at the two.

"You're just too paranoid," Ian sighed.

"Paranoia is a virtue in life," Amber argued calmly.

Ian shot back, "Not unless if it drives you insane," Ian shot back.

"Do I look insane to you?" Amber barked with her eye slightly twitching.

"Ella mira loco," Pedro muttered to Ian, making a circular gesture to his head. He laughed, finding Pedro's confusion amusing. "You're completely sane," he said sarcastically to Amber, noting what Pedro had said.

Amber looked cross at her two stepbrothers. "Yeah, yeah I get it. Honestly, can't get a loving reunion with anybody 'round here can I?" she grumbled.

Pedro sensed his stepsisters' annoyance and let his concern wash over. "No te enjoes!" Pedro and Ian then hugged her. It was unexpected, but she hugged back anyway.

"Mejor?" Pedro asked, Ian trying to pull him away because Zero was calling to them.

Amber sighed and pushed down her annoyance. "Yeah, whatever. Bye for now and don't die alright?" she chuckled.

"Not making any promises," Ian called over his shoulder as the two of them waddled away. Amber snorted and waddled off to find her team. After a minute, she found them talking under a large shady tree. Well Flora and Sara were doing the talking. Madison was just standing around, looking bored.

"I was wondering where you went," Flora admitted when she noticed Amber coming over.

"Just talked to my family. Strange enough, I didn't see my foster parents…" Amber trailed off, silently glad she hadn't.

Sara tapped her flippers together hesitantly. "Do you think Zero will do alright with the colony?" she asked, interrupting Amber's thoughts.

The silver bird snapped back to reality. "You know him. I'm sure he'll be just fine," she reassured and started walking away again. "Besides, they're his problem now." The leader chuckled.

"Well yes, I-Wait Amber! That's not a very nice to say!" Sara ran after her leader, yelling about what she had said the whole time. "Give your actually goodbyes!" she demanded. "Don't leave them like that!"

"I believe she's making a big deal over nothing." Flora rolled her eyes. Madison grunted in agreement but followed the two smaller penguins, Flora at her side.

After a while, Sara had finally convinced Amber to say their final goodbyes, mostly an excuse to spend more time with her cousins. They were currently waving and shouting their last goodbyes to the leaving colony penguins, who were also doing the same.

Sara had silent tears coming down her face. She was going to miss her family, even if it was only her two cousins.

"Ah, don't worry," Amber assured, noticing Sara's sadness. "Maybe we could visit for the holidays."

That perked Sara up considerably, and she smiled widely. "So we can actually visit them?" she squeaked in delight.

Amber cringed when Sara squeaked, making her gain a headache. "I suppose. Just don't squeak or giggle like a school girl in front of me," she mumbled. Sara snapped her beak shut to prevent any unwanted giggles, squeals or squeaks.

"Come on!" Skipper shouted from across the forest. "We're going to leave you all here if you don't move it!"

"AH! Don't leave us!" Sara shouted. She started running to where Skipper and his team were. Flora ran after, tripping and falling on her face as she did. Madison ran to her, laughing the entire time at the penguins clumsiness, picked her up, and the two both started running after Sara.

Amber calmly waddled after the penguins with a smirk on her face. _That's my team alright, s_he thought.

* * *

><p><strong>Más tarde, hermanita. Nos veremos algún día de nuevo: Later sis. See you again someday.<strong>

**No lo entiendo: I don't understand.**

**Cero defendería las colonias de pingüinos de todos modos: Zero would defend the colony penguins anyway.**

**Ella mira loco: She looks crazy...**

**No te enojes: Don't be mad.**

**I'm honestly not sure if my translations are correct.**

**Galena is a name, it means lead like metal in Latin. Nalani is a Hawaiian name. It means the calm of the skies. I know it's not the best chapter but I hade to get it moving, again. Review and I hope you like the story!**

**Sara: I like it!**

**Me: Why?**

**Sara: Because Private is there! He's the cutest thing ever!**

**Me: As sweet as that is, it makes me want to puke. Please review.**


	11. Accidentally In Love

The penguins had taken the subway, slipped through the city undetected, and they were now waddling through the Central Park Zoo after a days worth of travel without a single break. They were very exhausted at this point but it was harder for some to stay awake.

"Can we rest? I'm so tired," Sara whined.

Amber looked back at her and glared slightly. "You're acting like a hatchling," she scolded.

"Actually Amber, I'm exhausted too," Flora admitted. "Can we rest? Madison is about ready to fall asleep on her feet," she added.

Amber looked over and, sure enough, Madison was stumbling around on her feet clumsily. It was something you'd expect from Flora rather then her. "Madison, just play some loud music to wake everyone up," she ordered.

Madison lazily pulled her tape recorder from thin air and pushed the 'play' button, not bothering to look at the track. "_**You would not believe your eyes, if ten million fireflies lit up the world as I fell asleep…" **_That only made the penguin's tired state even worse. "_**Cause they fill the open air and leave tear drops everywhere. You'd think me rude, but I just stand and stare…" **_

"Turn that off!" Amber barked. Madison did so but continued to hold her recorder to her chest protectively.

Kowalski stumbled on his feet and raised a flipper to say something. "Skipper, permission to-" He cut himself off and fell onto the ground, snoring.

"Permission granted," Skipper yawned as he finally stopped. "I think we can all use some…sleep." Then he fell over on his back, along with Private, Sara, Flora, Rico and Madison.

"We're almost there," Amber whined. She changed her mind when she yawned ever so loudly. "Then again, maybe I could use a few winks and…stuff." She then fell over as well and landed next to Skipper.

"I'll wake them up later. We don't have to wait long," Skipper murmured to her.

Amber felt faintly surprised that he was still awake but didn't care much about it. "Good. When we're this close to the zoo, it seems pointless to just stop right here," she told him quietly. Skipper hummed in agreement, keeping his eyes closed. Amber looked at him. She watched his chest rise and then lower again slowly. She sighed inwardly.

They weren't an item at all. Never would be. They never flirted, so what would make people think that? _Do we flirt? _Amber thought. She opened her beak, about to speak her thoughts, but she thought better of it and closed it again. Nothing good would come from it, and it would just make things awkward and tense between them. She didn't want that. So instead she asked, "Want to at least hear some music?"

Skipper shrugged on the ground. "Sure."

Amber sat up and went to Madison, who was a three feet away and was holding her tape recorder like it was a teddy bear. She yanked it from her grip, and the silent penguin momentarily had a fitful sleep before laying down calm again. Amber moved through the tracks and picked a random one. She couldn't read, so she had no idea how Madison knew which song from which. She sat down and waited for music to come out.

A few moments later, music started flowing through the recorder, before the lyrics started to echo throughout the park. "_**So she said 'what's the problem baby?' What's the problem? I don't know. Well maybe I'm in love!"**_

Amber's eyes widened in surprise. What was this song doing in there?

Skipper heard the song and opened his eyes. He watched Amber staring at the recorder with a confused and shocked expression. He chuckled to himself and sat up. He had an idea and smirked, willing to give it a shot.

"_**Think about it every time I think about it, can't stop thinking 'bout it." **_

Skipper made up his mind and got up. He waddled to Amber until he was a foot away from her and held a flipper out to her. "You don't mind dancing do you?" he asked. Amber looked at him skeptically, but she accepted his flipper anyway. He gently pulled her up and twirled her around until she was as close as she could be to his body, which was what he had been craving.

Amber was surprised at this and had her beak slightly agape but this didn't discourage Skipper's actions. He started to dance around her, and she slowly joined him, slowly smiling at his confidence. She admired that.

_**"How much longer will it take to cure this? Just to cure it 'cause I can't ignore it if it's love. Makes me wanna turn around and face me, but I don't know nothing about love."**_

Amber thought that it was relating to her as she was gently dancing next to Skipper. She didn't want love and wanted that love sickness cured forever so there never would be pain again. She never really did know anything about love. It was always fake, so she never experienced the real thing. It was always like that but with Skipper…it felt different. It felt real but…was it love? Was that what she was feeling towards Skipper? It couldn't be…

**"**_**Come on, come on! Turn a little faster." **_

Skipper spun her around, which made her laugh, much to their own surprise. But her laugh caused Skipper to grin anyway, and he twirled her around again just to hear it again. He's heard her laugh before but this time was different. It was softer, like she was enjoying herself. Not like when she would laugh at a joke or a prank. It was a nice change.

_**"Come on, come on! The world will follow after. Come on, come on! Because everybody's after love..."**_

Both penguins swallowed. They weren't after love but here they were. Dancing together, enjoying each others company and bringing warm feelings to each others hearts. But neither was aware of how each other felt to the other penguin.

**"**_**So I said, 'I'm a snowball running'. Running down into the spring that's coming all this love, melting under blue skies belting out sunlight, shimmering love." **_

Skipper watched sunlight light up and shimmer on Amber's silver feathers that never seemed to be out of place. He couldn't help but think that she looked beautiful in the light. But he shook those thoughts away. He was macho penguin. Not something that a girl could bend and make him do her every whim. _Monster trucks Skipper, monster trucks, _he thought.

**"**_**Well baby I surrender to the strawberry ice cream. Never ever ever end of all this love. Well I didn't mean to do it but there's no escaping your love."**_

Both of them felt like that song was tying into what they were feeling to one another. If there was love, there was no escaping it. And they both knew that but couldn't find it in their hearts to accept it. They were stubborn like that, nothing else to it.

**"**_**These lines of lightning mean we're never alone, never alone, no, no! Come on, come on! Move a little closer."**_

Skipper pulled her in, and they both briefly froze at the spot. Amber then moved out of his grip and started to dance next to his side again, trying to forget about what had happened just moments ago.

_**"Come on, come on! I want to hear you whisper. Come on, come on! Settle down inside my love..." **_

Skipper pulled Amber to his chest again and for a second, he wanted to stroke her face, but he fought that urge and continued to dance with her.

**"**_**Come on, come on! Jump a little higher. Come on, come on! If you feel a little lighter."**_

Skipper actually lifted her up and spun around, both laughing the whole time. It might have been weird to anyone watching but, for them, they were having a load of fun with it.

_**"Come on, come on! We were once upon a time in love..." **_

Skipper couldn't help but smile. If only things weren't so complicated, maybe there could be something more between them. But he didn't really want to risk anything with Amber. He cared deeply for her that was a fact. He was afraid of loosing that special bond they had developed.

For now though, he would enjoy being with her, and he hoped that it wouldn't end for a while longer.

**"**_**We're accidentally in love. Accidentally in love, accidentally in love, accidentally in love, accidentally in love, accidentally in love, accidentally in love, accidentally in love." **_

Amber felt her heart rate going faster from the adrenaline and being close to a penguin she cared deeply about. She was not in love, she was not in love. But no matter how many times she thought of it, part of her did think she might just be. And she hated that part of her with a passion.

**"**_**Accidentally. I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love! _**Accidentally. I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love, I'm in love! Accidentally.**_" **_

Amber felt like the lyrics were now trying to convince her that she was in love. But she refused to accept such a belief. She gave up those feelings a long time ago when all that pain was too much for her fragile emotions to handle. She thought her heart had learned its lesson.

The music got louder, making them put more energy, gusto and feeling into their dancing as they twirled, kicked and jumped into each others flippers. Some battle moves they knew were also used to make the dance even more powerful as they came in sync with each other.

_**"Come on, come on! Spin a little tighter!"**_

Skipper spun Amber once again, only faster then all the other times. Although neither would admit it, they were having a lot of fun. Skipper released her when she stopped spinning, and they both danced next to each other again, moving in a circular motion.

_**"Come on, come on! And the world's a little brighter."**_

When Skipper looked at Amber, he knew that part of the song was true. The world did seem a little brighter with her around in his opinion. He felt the song coming to a close, so he grabbed Amber and brought her as close as he could to his own body. They stayed in that position until the last lyric of the song came to an end. They longed to have continued dancing for just a little longer.

_**"Come on, come on! Just get yourself inside her love. I'm in love…"**_

Skipper then dipped Amber and it was like time froze for them. They stared at each others eyes with their heart rates quickening by the seconds that counted by. They were slowly leaning into each other with their breaths a bit husky from their dancing. Skipper was slowly pulling her up, and she allowed him to just that. Their eyelids dropped halfway, and their beaks were only inches away before they would connect.

But before it happened, both penguins realized what was happening and snapped their heads away. They jumped away from each other and glanced around awkwardly and nervously, trying to look at anything else that wasn't the other penguin.

"We should probably wake up the others," Amber coughed awkwardly. "They've slept long enough."

Skipper nodded stiffly and dragged his webbed feet to their soldiers, a bit crestfallen.

_What had that almost happened? _Amber thought in shock and stared off. _And is it…love?_

* * *

><p><strong>Song is called Accidentally in Love by Counting Crows. I'm raising awareness to this song!<strong>

**I pretty much killed the love dream. I dangled chocolate in your faces and took it away. But I'll do what I want for now. Alright, now I know this is a cheesy chapter, but I had an urge to type it up. Now review or else…**

**Rico: *Pulls out flamethrower* Burn baby!**

**Me: That actually reminds me of a song. Anyway, you get the point. Review or be burned to death. Later, peace out, and all that stupid hippie crud!**


	12. Back Again

**KarenKook, that was the song I was thinking of. Thanks! Alright this might be the last chapter. If I get at least three reviews I'll make the last chapter with REAL Amber and Skipper romance ok? Anyway, enjoy it!**

* * *

><p>Skipper and Amber shook the other aquatic birds awake, trying their best to hide the awkward air and tension around them. The others didn't need to know what had happened and what would they say or think if they caught wind that they had been dancing?<p>

Amber shook Sara forcefully to get her up. She was the last one to be forced awake and was being more difficult then she should have been in the first place. Figures. Sara did like her sleep more then she should have. Sara huffed from the shaking and rolled over on the ground. She didn't want to wake up yet; they had barely even slept!

"We need to get to the zoo. Wake up now," Amber ordered.

Sara groaned but got up anyway. She wasn't going to disobey an order, no matter how much she didn't want go get up. It would end badly for her anyway. The young bird stood up and rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"Not bright and bushy tailed are we?" Amber joked, putting strain on her forced smirk.

Sara knew Amber well enough. She has spent some good time with her leader, along with Flora and Madison of course. She knew that if Amber acted something like this that she was obviously emotionally troubled or pressured. Usually over something really personal, and her more sensitive feelings. But Sara didn't know which ones. Although she had a guess.

"Are you alright Amber?" Sara asked, concerned for her leader. Amber barked out with laughter, which caused the penguins to share concerned glances, except Skipper, who knew the reason of her awkward atmosphere.

"Of course I am. I've never been better!" Amber answered her awkwardly after she finished her strained laughter. "Seriously though, let's go back to the zoo now. I want to go back into that bunk of mine. I miss it."

Flora looked at Madison and seemed to long for her own bunk as well. "Who knew concrete could be so comfortable?" she added. Madison grinned; she had missed her bunk also. Sleeping on walls and cold floors wasn't the best of places for rest.

"Oh, I can't wait to see my soaps on the telly!" Private clapped his flippers together.

Sara jumped over to him in an excited fashion. "Oh yes, I want to see if she finally says she loves him! She has to, they have been in love for months!" she exclaimed and waved her flippers around hysterically in her excitement.

Private seemed just as excited for the revelation they wanted to happen between the lovers on the soap opera. "They have to admit their feelings for each other, I just know they will!" he exclaimed happily.

Sara fell into a spell of fairytales and her eyes clouded over. "You can see them flirting with each other every time they see their faces. Ever since they danced together in that beautiful, romantic song they have been so nervous around each other. It's only a matter of time," Sara told the young private confidently.

This was making Amber and Skipper uncomfortable. It sounded a bit too much like their own situation.

"Let's head off to the zoo," Skipper ordered hastily, cutting off anymore of the young penguin's words.

The penguins didn't argue, since it would be useless anyway. Besides, every single one of them wanted to get some rest or at least see the HQ again. It has been nearly a week since they had been in their cozy habitat.

"I can't wait to see Marlene again!" Sara squealed, stepping over to her leader.

Amber winced and ordered sternly, "Stop squealing, you're already giving me a headache."

Sara clamped her beak shut and that was the end of that. Flora waddled past and gave her a sympathetic glance before rushing forward to catch up to Kowalski.

The young avian sighed and looked up at her leader. Her face was unreadable, but Sara could tell that her gaze was lingering on Skipper. "Amber?" she whispered. The silver penguin turned her gaze to her and raised a questioning brow. "Did something happen between you and Skipper?" Sara blurted out quietly.

Amber looked surprised and nervous at the question. "What makes you think that?" she asked suspiciously.

_Why is Amber so paranoid and suspicious of everything? _Sara thought to herself with a touch of annoyance. "Well…you seem tense. More then usual actually and you look a bit…nervous." Sara hesitated at the last part. In a much quieter voice she added, "And you keep looking at him."

Amber narrowed her eyes. "Nothing happened," she snapped and seemed to loom over her. Sara flinched at her tone and stared at the ground sadly. Amber sighed and muttered some words under her breath. "Look, nothing happened," she said in a less harsh tone. "Besides, even if something did happen, I don't want to talk about it."

Sara knew something happened, but she wasn't about to say that aloud or press her leader about it either.

It was only a minute or two when they finally reached the Central Park Zoo, much to their relief.

"Good to be home." Skipper smirked.

Flora looked at Kowalski with radiating excitement. "When we get back to our habitat, I'm determined to work on that invention of ours after some good sleep," she told Kowalski.

Kowalski seemed to catch her excitement like a contagious disease. "As am I, we are almost done too. It will be an amazing breakthrough in science!" he exclaimed excitedly. "To believe, a teleportation device that can take us to anywhere we desire!"

Skipper looked back at Kowalski as he started to go through the bars, too tired to go over the clock tower as he normally would have done. "Would it take us to the moon?" he questioned with a raised brow.

"Uh…I think so." Kowalski rubbed the back of his head and glanced at Flora, who shrugged. She didn't know how far it could teleport them yet.

"Then it sounds good to me." Skipper smirked and entered the zoo. "No more lemurs and only peace and quiet," he murmured to himself more then to any of the other penguins.

Amber yawned and stretched her flippers out when she had passed through the bars with everyone else. "At least we would get some sleep then," she added. The silver bird followed Skipper with the others at their tail feathers.

The male avian scientist put on a more serious look. "We need to get the right chemicals, elements and equations right or else it will spell certain disaster," Kowalski stated cautiously.

Skipper sighed and seemed to be exasperated, as this was a common occurrence and he had no doubt the machine would backfire on them. "Is there anything that you two can build that won't backfire or eventually threaten to destroy us all?" He scowled at both Flora and Kowalski.

"Uh…" Flora tapped her beak in thought.

"Not really, no," Kowalski finished for her.

Amber looked back at them too, still waddling to their habitat. "Maybe you two should make something less life threatening," she snorted. "What about a toaster? Can't you make a toaster that won't kill us?"

Private appeared confused at that suggestion "Why would we need a toaster?" he asked.

"For…toast?" Sara answered in an unsure tone.

Skipper shrugged and yawned, not seeming to care if they did it or not. "As long as it doesn't kill us all, it's fine." He fell in step next to Amber. This caused her to dart her gaze away from him immediately, which Skipper solemnly noticed.

Kowalski crossed his flippers over his chest and looked at the ground darkly. "Reduced to making toasters," the strategist grumbled.

Flora was just as discouraged as he was. "We could be doing so much better," she muttered.

Private fell back a little and told the two scientists, "Well I think your teleportation device is a smashing idea!" He grinned widely at the two intelligent penguins'. "Maybe it can bring us into a world of lunacorns, friendship, rainbows, dreams and love!"

Everybody could hear Rico and Madison gagging. Kowalski and Flora exchanged awkward glances. "Private, I hate to break it to you but there is no such thing as a lunacorn," Kowalski told Private bluntly.

"Or unicorns, gnomes, dragons, or anything related for that matter," Flora added.

"You just don't believe in it because of the amazing magic they have." Private pouted, which brought a faint smile on Sara's beak. It was cute when he pouted in her opinion.

"Magic doesn't exist," both scientists said together. "Magic is simply little tricks that people do with science," Kowalski explained in his all too confident tone. "Like using dry ice, which is frozen carbon dioxide I might add, they use it for rock concerts to make the smoke effect. It skips the liquid state too," Flora added. Soon the two intellects were talking about dry ice and other things that make magic fake and proving how it's all science instead.

"That's it!" Skipper shouted, having enough of them breaking down everything from elements, to molecules or whatever. It was making his head spin like crazy. "Kowalski, that earns five quarters in the show off jar!"

"That goes for you too Flora." Amber glared. "You just shattered their dreams."

Kowalski grumbled to himself when putting in some of his quarters in the show off jar that Sara and Private were holding. Flora had a sad frown on her face when putting hers in. Both young birds were shaking, wide eyed, at what they had just heard.

Madison and Rico laughed at them all and rushed ahead to the penguin habitat, so they could be alone for a couple of minutes. It was just then when the other birds got an unwanted surprise.

"Hey, you're all back!" Marlene exclaimed. She had seen them from her habitat and had jumped over there to greet them. She was curious on their whereabouts, but she was more excited over the news she had overheard the other day.

Amber jumped and practically slapped Marlene across the zoo, but Skipper had stopped her just in time by grabbing her flipper. You'd think that a penguin like her wouldn't act like that to simple surprise.

"Don't do that!" Amber growled, relaxing. "I hate surprises."

Marlene didn't seem fazed by this. "Sorry, but hey, guess what I found out?" she asked excitedly.

"What?" Amber and Skipper said in an annoyed tone. Both were unaware that they were still holding flippers.

Marlene was more then happy to answer. "The new animals are coming in a month! Is anyone excited about this? I'm going to get a roommate!" she squealed. She was positive this wouldn't be like Rhonda all over again. Though there was a part of her that was wary about getting new animals. She still wasn't over the walrus incident.

Amber suppressed the urge to roll her eyes. "Not really." She glared. The silver bird just then noticed Skipper holding her flipper and swiftly pulled her flipper away, causing both penguins to feel that same awkward yet warm feelings in their hearts.

Skipper tried to act unfazed and looked at Marlene. "We already knew they were coming." He crossed his flippers over his chest.

Marlene didn't take his tone into account and exclaimed, "But I found out more from Alice!" The Asian otter gave an even larger grin that could have covered up her entire face.

_That otter knows how to smile. It is a tad bit disturbing though… _Amber thought, inching slightly away from the overly happy otter.

"We're getting two lemurs and a female otter!"

Skipper balked for a moment at the word 'lemurs'. "Whoa, whoa, whoa back up there sister! We're getting _two _new lemurs?"

"Yes, a female and a male," Marlene answered, finally loosing that cheery attitude when she saw the look Skipper held.

"Not more of them!" Skipper slapped his head with his flipper. "That's just great…Kowalski give me some options here!" He turned his head to his lieutenant when he didn't speak. It looked like he, Flora, Private and Sara were listening in on something. Skipper raised a brow at Amber.

Amber shrugged in response and said, "Beats me. Hey, Sara snap out of it!"

Sara jumped and looked at her leader. "You two don't hear it? Something is happening in our habitat."

Skipper listened in with Amber. Sure enough, there were some sounds coming from their habitat. Sounded like scuffling sounds and shouting. "An investigation is in order, let's move out!" he ordered. He went off with the other penguins, but it didn't take long for him to notice Amber wasn't following. He turned around and saw Amber still talking to Marlene, keeping a wary eye on him. "You coming?" Skipper shouted over to her.

The two animals stopped talking, and Amber shook her head. "I'm going to stay out here with Marlene for some chat and getting up to speed!" she shouted back. "You go one ahead, you're holding everyone up!"

Skipper nodded and slid off toward the awaiting penguins.

Sara noted Skipper coming back without Amber following. "Why isn't Amber coming?" she asked him.

"She wants to talk to Marlene," Skipper answered.

"Probably to explain about what had happened during our absence," Kowalski suggested. The penguins jumped over the habitat fence and those odd sounds were very clear now that they were right over the source.

"Sounds like Rico is yelling out gibberish," Flora stated, a bit worried.

Private pushed the fish bowl aside, and everyone jumped in. They were almost bowled over by the two psychopaths. Rico was chasing and yelling gibberish at Madison, who was holding a blonde doll with anger.

_Uh oh, _Private thought and cringed. _She found Rico's doll._

"Halt!" Skipper's voice echoed throughout the HQ. Both penguins stopped but this caused Rico to slam onto Madison, who in result dropped the doll a few feet away. "Just what are you two doing?"

Rico jumped back up to his feet and pulled Madison up. Once he made sure she was ok, he started flapping his flippers everywhere with wild gestures, while yelling out a bunch of garbles and grunts, something none of them understood. The penguins watched him in a rather amused way, except Madison, who seemed to be angered at the psychotic penguin.

"Go a little slower there soldier." Skipper rolled his eyes.

Rico stopped what he was doing and pointed to Madison and then to his old doll that was on the ground. "Found doll and pictures," he explained with a frown.

Skipper and Kowalski eyes went wide. "Which ones?" they both asked.

"Doris, Kitka and ex-wife," Rico answered, forgetting or ignoring the fact that the girls were still there. Kowalski winced at the mention of Doris.

Sara seemed intrigued and turned to Kowalski and Skippers direction. "Ex-wife?" she inquired curiously.

"Skipper's." Rico pointed to said penguin.

Sara gasped disbelievingly. "Skipper had a wife?"

Skipper coughed into his flipper awkwardly. "I divorced with her a while ago. She was just a wife from Africa," he explained.

"A bobble head wife," Kowalski snorted quietly, but Flora had heard it.

She laughed at the simple thought of it. "A bobble head? You married a bobble head?" Flora laughed, barely managing to say the words. Skipper grumbled under his breath, but Flora took this as a yes and laughed even harder. She gasped for breath when she finished and asked, "So who is Doris anyway?"

Kowalski froze and Skipper smirked, seeing his second in charges response.

"Doris is a dolphin, she was Kowalski's old love interest," Skipper told her.

Flora eyed Kowalski suspiciously. "Is that so?"

"He has a picture of her too," Private informed. This earned a slap on the back of his head from Kowalski.

Flora felt her eye twitch. "You have a picture of her?" She put her flippers on her hips and looked at Kowalski with something close to a death glare. She wasn't one to get jealous but having a picture of your old crush got something to flare inside of her.

Kowalski turned to her and rubbed the back of his head nervously. _Oh sweet Galileo I'm in trouble_… he thought. "She was an old love interest, and I have no interest in her what so ever anymore. I love you and not that dolphin," Kowalski told her honestly.

Flora huffed. "As long as you burn that picture, I forgive you." She raised a brow at him, almost expecting him to want to keep the picture of Doris.

Kowalski let out a breath of relief and crossed his heart with his flipper. "I promise I will. Rico, if you please?" Kowalski held his flipper out as Rico hacked up a flamethrower for him. "Now if you don't mind." He put on his goggles from thin air and placed it over his eyes. He waddled to where he knew the picture was and was soon out of sight. Everyone could hear the sound of the weapon pouring its flames out and could also hear the burning sound of the picture being burned away. Moments later, Kowalski came back, completely covered in ash and soot. "Picture is burned," Kowalski coughed, a puff of smoke coming from his beak.

Flora smiled and went over to him. "I think you need some cleaning up." She brushed some ash from his shoulder, took his flipper and led him to his lab. He smiled widely, already knowing that she had more planned then cleaning him up. Just like their old excuses they would say were 'experimenting'. "We will be working on some inventions," Flora told them. That confirmed his suspicions and he knew he was going to enjoy his time with Flora.

The lab door closed behind them, leaving five penguins alone in there.

"So what's with that doll?" Sara asked.

Madison had her foot tapping in impatience to hear an answer when she turned toward Rico, who was looking at the ground, trailing a circle on the ground with his webbed foot nervously.

"It was Rico's old girlfriend," Private told her.

Madison crossed her flippers on her chest and glared at Rico. She had found it behind a locked door in the HQ, so of course she blows the door up. That was how she had found those pictures and Rico's doll. She never expected it to be his girlfriend but when he saw her with it and tried to hide it and take it from her; she knew it was something special to him.

"A doll was his girlfriend?" Sara asked. As polite as she was, she found it faintly amusing, but she wasn't about to show it.

Private quickly whispered to her, "The dolls name is Ms. Perky." Sara nodded, signaling she heard him.

Rico nodded slowly in answer and quickly looked at Madison to see her reaction. She didn't appear pleased, but she didn't look angry or too upset anymore either. Her flippers were across her chest with a faint scowl on her face. "Mad?" Rico asked cautiously, knowing how unpredictable she could be. Madison sighed faintly and shook her head. She wasn't really mad at him. It was a dumb reason to be mad at him for it anyway. Rico gave her a relieved smile and waddled to the TV with her flipper in his, leaving the doll forgotten in the corner of the room.

"Well hasn't this been interesting," Skipper said in an annoyed tone sarcastically. He had kept quiet throughout most of it.

"So who's Kitka then?" Sara asked.

Skipper glared at her. "That's classified information," he stated bluntly.

"Why is that?" Sara asked curiously.

"Cause I don't want to talk about it." Skipper waddled off and went to get his fish coffee. Almost a week without it and he needed it bad. Especially now.

"It was him temporary girlfriend, but he broke up with her when she had eaten Fred," Private told her.

Sara gasped in horror and asked, "What happened to him?"

Private grimaced and answered, "She threw him up…" he trailed off right there, shivering at the disgusting memory.

"Ew…" Sara shivered also. "That's just gross."

"Private, you better not be giving away classified information," Skipper called out in a warning tone. Both penguins jumped in fear and ran toward the TV.

* * *

><p>"That's terrible," Marlene whispered. The two animals had walked to the otter habitat, where Amber relayed their adventure to Marlene. "I can't believe it. So this Satan guy just betrayed your family and almost broke you up from your team?"<p>

"Yes and the whole colony," Amber growled. "Sara convinced me to stay. Anyway, I never trusted the guy. I always thought it would be wise to throw the guy out to the leopard seals but some of the penguins had talked me out of it. Bet they regret it now." Amber chuckled at the last part. "So what happened while we were gone anyway?"

Marlene wiped the frown off her face and offered a gentle smile. "Everyone in the zoo tried to cover up for you guys. The lemurs and some other small animals even wore penguin costumes." Marlene laughed.

Amber raised a brow in curiosity but was amused at the very thought. "And the people fell for that?" Amber asked in a disbelieving tone.

"Well some were suspicious," Marlene admitted. "But I don't think they were smart enough to figure it out. Alice didn't even care and didn't suspect anything."

Amber snorted, "Typical, idiotic humans."

"So, you and Skipper huh?" Marlene suddenly asked slyly.

If Amber was drinking something right then, she would have spit it all over the otter. "What?" she yelped. "What the heck are you talking about?"

Marlene laughed slightly and laid down on her bed with her arms cradling the back of her head. "I saw what happened earlier, and in the past months, you two have been flirting around with each other. I saw it coming, aren't you two together yet?"

"We are not together!" Amber felt her face go red from embarrassment. "We don't flirt," she denied. Marlene didn't believe her one bit, but she wasn't willing to push her anymore. If she was anything like Skipper, you could only go so far before she snapped on you like a snare. "That set aside-" Amber threw the otter a stern glare before continuing. "I just hope the penguins' are doing alright. It's going to be hard for them because of their fear, but I'm positive that Zero will keep them safe and fed. Maybe even teach them how to fish."

"Zero sounds like a great guy…" Marlene sighed.

Amber chuckled lightly. "Yeah…he really is."

* * *

><p>Zero watched over the penguins hidden in the large cargo boat on his post on a large crate that was multiple feet in the air. Kowalski and Flora had told him the best way to get home and that way was a large cargo boat on Coney Island that would actually take them to Antarctica in the area of their colony home. What were the odds of that?<p>

But that didn't really seem important and it really wasn't. What was important was Zero taking good care of all the colony penguins. He knew Amber was serious about if he allowed one to die that it was on his head. He also knew she was going to bring him into a world of pain if he did. He was confident that nothing would happen though. An air of confidence around him and his calm look only added to it.

"Hey Zero, when are we going to arrive at our colony?" a colony penguin asked.

Zero identified it as Martin, a penguin he saw every once in a while. "Flora said it might take a week, so we have to ration the food we got in here," he replied. Martin nodded silently and went off to tell his friends. Zero turned his gaze to the metal plated wall in front o him.

They'd be home before long and the girls would visit them eventually. And maybe… Amber might have found her perfect match. Someone who wouldn't break her heart like all the others. At least…not on purpose. If he did, well…he might not stay long enough to say 'Oops'.

* * *

><p><strong>Ah, sorry for the long wait. I've gotten really busy. So if I get at least three reviews and you say you want some romance between Amber and Skipper, then I'll make one. I'm not doing this for reviews, well maybe partly, but I'm busy with my other stories that I don't want to continue if nobody really wants it to happen. Till then, peace out.<strong>


	13. It's Love And A Fact

**The final chapter is here. Well I had gotten over three reviews wanting this, so here you go. The moment you have all been waiting, real romance. This chapter is cheesy yes, but I hope you enjoy it anyway.**

* * *

><p>Amber sighed while sitting on the concrete platform. Rain was coming down in light sprinkles, gently pelting against her feathers. Rain drops were also falling down the tip of her beak and her chest, getting herself soaked in the water droplets. She didn't mind though. She always did like the rain. They never saw it in Antarctica, so it was a nice change. One of the reasons she had grown to love New York was because it <em>could<em> rain.

In Antarctica, the closest thing they got to rain was a blizzard. Flora had gave a long boring lecture about how water became snow or ice due to freezing temperatures, making it impossible for rain to ever come to their icy wasteland. It sure did crush Sara's dreams, realizing the hail that impaled her was only frozen water.

Amber held a flipper out in front of herself, letting the rain patter on her flipper. She slowly grew a gentle smile while looking at the rain. One of her favorite things in life was rain and it always made her calm and relaxed, which was different for her normal tense attitude. It was always a nice change to be relaxed and not so...angry.

Her smile was wiped clean off her face when she heard the fishbowl slide against the concrete. She craned her neck around and saw the last penguin she wanted to see. Skipper. She turned her head slowly back and pulled her flipper to her side once again. She heard Skipper's feet pat against the wet concrete, and she could sense him stopping right behind her.

"What are you doing out in the rain?" he asked her.

Amber shrugged. "I don't know. I guess I just love the rain," she answer plainly and slumped slightly from where she sat.

Skipper took a couple of steps forward so he was at her side and sat next to her. "Everyone was wondering where you were," he told her.

"They should know that I can take care of myself," Amber grumbled, dismissing their concern.

Skipper narrowed his eyes playfully at her. "This is coming from the penguin that got captured by lobsters."

Amber flashed him a look. "Hey it was a surprise attack, and you know I don't do well with surprises." She turned her gaze back to the water in the habitat and muttered quietly, "One of my biggest weaknesses too."

Skipper caught that and looked at her with gentle eyes, his tough exterior wall going down. "You don't always have to be tough you know," he told her.

Amber quickly brought her head back up at him again. "It's not like I force myself to," she snapped. "It's how I act. Even so, my team is going soft, so someone has to be the wall that keeps it all together."

"What makes you think they're going soft?" Skipper questioned with a raised brow. "They're a pretty solid team."

Amber glared at the view in front of her. "Love," she muttered bitterly. "I still don't really approve of my team's love relationship. I know I can't do anything about it, because well…love sticks with you." Amber struggled with her last words, not wanting to have said that in the first place.

Skipper smiled down at the silver penguin with some sympathy but care. The next words she said made it disappear. "Love is stupid anyway," Amber muttered and crossed her flippers over her wet chest. The rain was soaking her to the bone but she still did not care.

Skipper frowned at her and decided that was enough. He took his flipper and put it under her beak, tipping her head so she was looking back up him with now straight eye contact, her eyes now wide with surprise. His beak was only an inch away from hers, but they weren't making a move away from one another. No more running. He was going to be head on with this like his missions.

"It isn't stupid," Skipper told her in a gentle but stern voice. His voice got a bit shaky as he said, "You're calling me stupid, you know that?"

Amber shook off her surprise and narrowed her eyes to prevent any rain from entering them. "And why would I be calling you stupid?" the silver bird asked with a hint of annoyance. She shivered because of the rain. It was starting to come down harder and the droplets were starting to feel colder then it was before. She might have been a penguin but she was still getting cold from it.

Skipper removed his flipper from beneath her beak and scooted closer to Amber, careful to not bring their beaks together. She scooted closer but only did this because she felt cold and wanted to feel his warmth. She sighed at the immediate feeling of his feathers and the heat of his body. They were practically pressed against each other.

"Well I can't really tell you…" Skipper trailed off. He looked in her eyes that held something close to suspicion. He chuckled softly to himself. "Why do I get the feeling you don't trust me?"

Amber now seemed amused by that comment. "Look Skips, I trust you, but I don't trust easily, so I don't know what you did to make me trust you in the first place," she snorted. Skipper chuckled again, which brought a small smile to both of their beaks.

Skipper sighed inwardly. _Come on soldier, you can do it,_ he mentally encouraged himself. He worked up the nerve to finally speak what he was a bit nervous about for a while now. "So you never want to love again?" he asked her, almost in a hushed whisper.

Amber was slightly taken back by this question but answered anyway. "Love isn't really worth it."

Skipper shook his head, still keeping his gaze on the beautiful silver penguin in front of him. She was beautiful to him in many ways. How her silver feathers glistened and stood out in the light. When he first saw her, he admitted to himself that he couldn't keep his eyes of her own amber ones. They stood out against her white and silver feathers by far, and it was probably his favorite physical feature about her.

"Love can be worth it. It just depends who it is," he told her quietly, with that hint of truth in his voice Amber failed to notice.

Amber turned her gaze down to his chest and shook her head in disagreement. "It doesn't matter. Whenever I supposedly fall in love, I always get stabbed in the back," she said bitterly. "It's always the same. They're all the same."

Skipper felt slightly taken back by this but raised her head up to his again. He was determined to prove to her that it wouldn't always be the same.

The rain picked up, pelting their feathers. The rain droplets guiding themselves through each feather in a delicate pattern. Skipper felt his heart race, while Amber was just confused by the weird look he wore. Skipper felt heat rush up to his face and allowed his eyelids to drop halfway. He felt himself lean in, with Amber's eyes widening by the second. There was no turning back now. What happened here wouldn't be forgotten. And then it happened.

Skipper pressed his beak against Ambers and kissed her gently, trying desperately not to rush anything.

He let his eyelids drop fully and pressed his beak harder against her own, wrapping his flippers around her. He was enjoying it, but he wasn't sure if Amber was. He was determined to show her how he felt either way. If that meant things would get awkward then let it. He _needed_ to show her.

Amber could only watch him kissing her in pure shock, not responding to the affectionate gestures. Her mind was racing with questions. What the heck was happening? _Why_ was it happening? And why was she enjoying it so much?

After a minute, Skipper pulled away, slightly panting from lack of breath. He cocked his head slightly at her with a smirk on his beak, awaiting a response.

Amber blinked, finally pulling everything together. She could have asked a lot of questions right there but instead she asked, "Why?"

Skipper gave her a slightly nervous smile, which made her chuckle quietly. It wasn't like him to get nervous, so it was an amusing change in her opinion. "Well you know…" Skipper shrugged. "I told you that I couldn't really _tell_ you."

Amber let the words sink in. Did that mean what she thought it meant? Did he love her? That couldn't be it. It was probably a misunderstanding. "What do you mean?" she questioned, finally deciding she had to find out in a more straight forward way. That was usually her way of doing things anyway.

Skipper hesitated, but he wasn't going to back down. He didn't have much of a choice now anyway. He was in the deep end with Amber now. "Well…" the CO hesitated again, "let's just say I have some deep feelings for you."

Amber's eyes were like an owl's now. "You…love me?" she gulped.

Skipper shrugged and regained his touch composure but a hint of nervousness and hesitation were still visible on his features. "Yes," he said simply. He then waved his flippers around widely. "Unless that weird's you out, then it's all a dream!"

Amber couldn't help but laugh. It was funny when he got nervous. She stopped abruptly when she remembered the situation. "It's a bit weird," she muttered, mostly to herself. "But…it's interesting at the same time and yet I hate it."

Skipper gave her a confused look at this.

"Well, no body really likes me in that way," Amber explained, looking rather irritated at the subject. "It's interesting because I never thought anyone would, and I hate it because I want to reject those feelings. It will make me weak so I have to push away that love I feel toward y-" Amber cut herself off right there. Her face went red as a tomato. What the heck was she saying? Why couldn't she think before she said anything and why would she even tell him this? It's personal, classified information. And did she really love him?

Skipper risked a smirk. "You love me?"

Amber tried to her best to look calm instead of embarrassed, but she was failing miserably. "I never said that!" she snapped. It was more in embarrassment then anger. She grumbled to herself, turning stubbornly away from Skipper.

Skipper shook his head in an amused fashion at how she was acting. He took her head in his flippers and turned her head back to his. Her eyes were glistening, even though there wasn't any sun. "It's fine to show your feelings," he whispered to her with love and care in his tone. He was aware of the stone wall that went around her heart but like a mission, it was his job to penetrate that and get to his goal on the other side. To win her heart.

She squinted at him, preventing anymore rain from entering her eyes. "Feelings can get you killed when you're out on the field," she shot back.

_Stubborn...Cute, _Skipper thought sarcastically. "Do you want to be happy?" he asked. She didn't react at first but then slowly nodded, her head still cradled in his strong flippers. He smiled softly at her. "Then don't be afraid to show your feelings."

Amber gained a thoughtful expression. Skipper was acting different then what she was use to. Sure, she liked the penguin but it was hard to say if it was love. _But it could be love, _she thought. For her, it felt like minutes. Running through her thoughts about Skipper, how they acted around each other, what they did and how they interacted. She subconsciously started to smile.

Her memories told her it had been fun and something inside said that the memories brought back warm fuzzy feelings. The ones she had felt when they had danced together. She pieced everything together and came to a realization. She was absolutely, undeniably, in love with Skipper. Amber looked at him with a now focused look. "You sure can press my buttons." She scowled slightly at him.

Skipper moved his flippers away from her face and brought it back down to his sides. "Well it's all part of the job." He smirked at her charmingly.

Making up her mind, Amber suddenly leaned in hastily and pressed her beak onto his.

Skipper was surprised at first. He never expected that to happen. He thought she would never return those feelings but now he thought differently. Smirking through the kiss, he returned it and wrapped his flippers tenderly around the silver penguin.

Amber's flippers wrapped around his head and she tried to press her beak in harder for a deeper kiss. This was something she needed. It was amazing with the events that had happened, and it was something she never imagined happening in her life ever again. Sure she had kissed a couple of guys in her time but this was different. It actually felt like it had a feeling to it, more realistic in a way for her. The ones she had kissed never put true passion into it since she was their toy but Skipper did. That meant a lot to her.

She made the kiss more desperate, gripping tightly to the back of Skipper's head. The flat-headed avian returned it with just as much energy and emotion, keeping up with her. They played with the feathers on their backs, smirking through the passionate kiss they shared. Their emotions were like bolts of lightning, sudden, unpredictable and powerful.

The rain warmed up as they kissed and continued to pelt their bodies, gently going down their feathers. It felt like the nice kind of rain that you wouldn't mind staying out in. It only made the kiss more amazing between the two. When they needed to breathe again, they parted, panting slightly. Amber had the happiest look Skipper had ever seen on her or on anyone for that matter. It was a new look to her that he loved.

"I'm going to say this once, so listen closely," Amber told him, grinning. "I love you too," she admitted.

Skipper smiled widely at her and pulled her as close as she could get to his body, even though they were practically pressed against one another already. "I love you too," he whispered. He kissed her forehead gently and, at that moment, he knew for a fact that he was in love. Amber suddenly felt her smile fall and sighed depressingly. Skipper noticed and felt a twinge of concern for her. "Something wrong?" he asked.

She looked up at him, her beak brushing up his flipper as she did. "I promised myself I wouldn't fall in love again," she muttered.

Skipper shrugged. "Like you said, love sticks with you. You can't escape it. It has a way of hunting you down," he told her, remembering her own words and adding to it with what he believed.

Amber snorted but hugged the leader penguin back. "Break my heart and I will break you."

* * *

><p><em>Love is like a glass door… sometimes you don't see it, and it smacks you right in your face. Remember that great love and great achievements involve great risk. <em>-_**Anonymous**_


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